Anchor Brewing sues City Steam brewpub, alleges infringement over ‘Steam’ trademark
Can a term that was once considered generic be captured from the public domain by a single company as a result of the company’s long and exclusive use of the term and/or because of changed circumstances? This will likely be one of the primary issues in dispute in the recent lawsuit filed by Anchor Brewing against City Steam Brewery.
More >> The Trademark Bar.
Breweries: Anchor Brewing, City Steam Brewery
Maybe I’m just smarter, but I would never confuse the name of a single beer from a production brewery with the name of a local brewpub. Especially when the word in question is a generic one like “steam.”
Of course Anchor will win, because the small brewpub probably can’t afford the legal fees to fight a behemoth like Anchor.
It’s one thing to protect a trademark or a brand, something I’m wholeheartedly behind. But this is just silly. The time will come where the only name a new brewpub or brewery could use is something completely random and non-sensical, like Purple Aardvark Sedan Mountain Ale.
A classification or category of beer should never have been trademarked. From Anchor’s web site: “today the name “steam” is a trademark of Anchor Brewing and applies only to the singular process and taste of our flagship brand “. Hopefully this is not true.
Does that mean they own the video game downloading site also? How about that thing I use to take the wrinkles out of my suit with? Are they monitoring my showers too?
For that matter what about all those ships that use Anchors? Are they paying up on their licensing fees, because they are clearly infringing on that brewery’s beer market.
Oh and as for that Purple Aardvark, under Anchor’s theory the word Ale would be copyrighted as would Sedan and maybe even Purple.
When companies file for marks, there are “classes of goods” which protects against the scenario that you describe. So *I’m assuming* Anchor only has a registered mark in the *beer* class of goods.
Talk about “eating your own!” To think that a trailblazer like Anchor Steam would stoop to go after another is sad for the craft brew industry. Enough to get me to stop drinking it.
Anchor Steam Beer is a beer produced by Anchor Brewing. City Steam Brewery has not used the word Steam in the name of a beer, it uses it in the name of the Brewery. Anchor does not use Steam in the name of the Brewery. This should not be an infringement on the name of the Anchor beer called Anchor Steam. What is the status of this suit?