Cerveceria Costa Rica (Magic Hat) Suing West Sixth Brewing

I can see how they are somewhat similar, but the whole circle vs. oval thing (yes, i know the bottle logo is likely a circle as well, but appears to be an oval on the bottle) as well as the very large "West Sixth Brewing" and "IPA" makes me wonder how legit this actually is. And if the only thing actually trademarked is the "#9", then I question how it could go through (though I'm certainly no lawyer). Regardless, I hate that it's happening. West Sixth is making great stuff and I don't want anything to suffer or their plans to be thwarted by some wanna-be craft brewery trying to play corporate tough guy.

 

I read this earlier and was actually going to contact them since I am a craft beer lawyer but now that it hit beerpulse their website has been crushed. I guess I will try again later.

 

I went one better I have refused to buy Magic Hat for many years now !!

 

I think Magic Hat has a very solid case here. The similarities are striking and #9 has been around much longer and is a national brand. I think they should have just sent a cease & desist letter though.

 

Petition signed. Boycott begun.

Easiest boycott ever, by the way...

 

Magic Hat #9 sucks.

 

They're taking a beating right now on FB

https://www.facebook.com/magichatbrewing

 

West Sixth could've been a bit more original if you ask me.

 

Striking?

You want to explain what these striking similarities are? I tried in a post above, but all I got was a huge amount of differences. And I stand behind the math being the most important aspect.

 

they are similar but neither are original ideas. Magic Hat was the first company to ever think of putting a number in a circle? come on.

 

ok i guess someone deleted the picture i posted on this thread for some reason...but someone posted/pointed out on fb that one of magic hat's designs is strikingly similar to a circular mountain dew logo.... hypocrisy is awesome

 

Honestly, the West Sixth logo is #9 flipped over, in different colors, with the star removed and placed elsewhere. The similarities are, indeed, striking. The font is ideally the same, with the only differences being extremely slight. No, 6 does not equal 9, but had Magic Hat come out with a #6 beer I could imagine it looking exactly like West Sixth's IPA.

 

I love the comments on Magic Hat's FB page. Get em!

 

Petition signed. Don't mess with Kentucky, son.

 

The Font is radically different.

The backgrounds are really, really radically different. All sixes look like nines upside down.

The star is similar, but still different (not radically).

And most importantly to me, the math is different. A six and nine are at least 33% different. Admittedly, they are closer to each other than either is to 312.

 

I'm no big-city lawyer, but I did have to take classes about copyright infringement and intellectual property in my time in undergrad, so I feel that I have a bit of casual knowledge on the subject.

My layperson's opinion is that if West Sixth had the resources to fight this, they would win. It seems to me like Magic Hat is banking on the fact that West Sixth *doesn't* have said resources, because there is no way in hell the West Sixth logo meets the basic standard for this kind of trademark infringement case (Likelihood of Confusion).

There are so many things that are different about these two logos and brands that the similarities (presence of an 8-pointed star and the similar-looking number font) are almost negligible. Complete opposite ends of the color spectrum, the fact that they are trying to conflate a "6" with a "9". The fact that the #9 logo has almost no text and a distinct texture around the "9". One other thing worth noting: the lawsuit is suing based on the fact that the West Sixth *company* logo resembles an individual *beer* brand logo. I think that may also factor in when it comes to the whole standard of customer confusion.

The other outcome I could see happening--if West Sixth were to fight it--is the judge ruling that they did not violate Magic Hat's trademark, but that they need to eliminate the star or change the font of the '6' to avoid any potential confusion in customers.

The thing that's so fucked up about this is that I didn't even know that #9 had an 8-pointed star in the logo UNTIL this thread.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with West Sixth and have never had a single taste of any of their beers.

 

Yikes. Someone is losing their job.

 

Why did you flip the West Sixth logo? A pound sign and 9 is just that and a 6 with a star is just that. West Sixth will prevail here.

 

If you don't like it, flip your monitor over.