Tried Hands "FarmHands" no longer

It's a shame this is occurring so frequently, it seems, within the craft brewing world recently. Especially with brands that see next to zero distribution, or overlap between the two brews sharing a similar/identical name.

The beer's solid regardless of what they call it.

 

Brewery Vivant can suck my Tired ****

But... there was a very interesting phrase buried deep down in the statement and it sounded like "construction of a new production brewery."

Does anyone know details? Suddenly, my FarmHands pain has eased a little...

 

What dicks. Seriously getting tired of this over beer names. There should be a law if your beer isn't rated higher on BA you can't sue.

 

So it's not the same name, nor is it distributed in the same area, yet they really care that much? Ridiculous. Craft beer is starting to have too much of the corporate politicking that no one wants to see it have. On such a small scale this is incredible. TH claims to have defended the name somewhat, so this ridiculous C&D didn't get thrown out immediately. I don't understand how you can claim a name that is so generic. The style is farmhouse ale, so how is Farmhands so infringing on Farm Hand? TH really stole the creative thinking that name took right from Brewery Vivant...

 

Yeah, Vivant makes some tired ass beer. Tired Hands is near the top of my list to try.

 

That's really unfortunate. Vivant should spend more time on their products and less time picking fights.

 

Somewhere in DelCo I believe...it's in the works for sure.

 

being from michigan, i am officially allowed to decree this as a dick move on vivant's part and say that people should think twice about supporting them

 

It is kind of interesting here that these breweries are so relatively young in age. Vivant looks very corporate, so it makes sense they have the law game on lock down. Obviously they are in the right here legally. Very happy about a TH production brewery - if I can get Hop Hands in any form on the reg I will be a very happy boy. Also, does this mean HandFarm is dead too?

 

Companies should be able to defend their brands, but it's pretty lame to see a scene that claims to be "a tight knit community" on the surface descend into a shitstorm of legal red tape every other week whilst fighting over who came up with a name or tap handle design first. I can understand breweries in the same market needing to prevent brand confusion but a 16oz can only available in Michigan isn't going to get confused with a draft-only offering in Ardmore, PA.

Also, as a couple of people have pointed out on the FB thread, Vivant should read through their own catalog sometime and see how many other breweries have also used the same or similar names:

Hubris - Elysian and Black Star
Menage a Trois - Rock Bottom, The Alchemist, Crabtree, Howe Sound
Perdition - Russian River
Solitude - Kane, Lucky Monk, Hill Farmstead
Sgt. Peppercorn - Cambridge
Trebuchet - Ladyface Ale
White Devil - Kuhnhenn

 

It seems every few months this type of story comes up and every time it seems like it is always same spin, with the company that gets the cease and desist letter acting like the poor little victim. But with trademark law my understanding is that if you don't defend your trademark you can lose it. So if these Vivant people don't document that they sent out letters like this, then A-B could decide they want to make a Farm Hand beer and no one wouldn't be able to stop them.

Plus every time I read one of these letters I often wonder what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot. I mean if a brewery in the US decided to make a beer called Tire Hands or Tired Hand, would Tired Hands be cool with it. Because I read their letter and that is sort of how they spun this situation, with the other brewery not being cool by letting them us the name.

 

Utterly ridiculous....

 

Pleased that I got to try FarmHands this past weekend. Really drinkable.

Vivant needs to back the f- down. There's no marketplace confusion, unless they plan to open a tiny brewpub in that same town.

One thing I'm *not* confused about in the marketplace though, is that I'm not buying any more of Vivant's beers or their collaborations with other brewers.

I'm not saying they don't have a right to defend their trademark - but I'm also not putting up with their BS, as a consumer.

 

I don't know, but I do feel like there is a huge difference between naming the beer after the brewery itself versus just one of that breweries beers. Meaning, It's Brewery Vivant Farm Hand vs. Tired Hands Farmhands. Different than if like there was a Brewery Vivant Tired Hands beer.

In the end, this is annoying, but maybe Tired Hands is better off because I imagine that Farmhands will be one of the beers they distribute once their new brewery is up and running and then they'd run into trademark issues.

 

While kind of hilarious, if none of those are trademarked then they can do whatever they want.

 

Exactly, their Cease & Desist letters may already be in the mail. Think about it, they only filed for a Trade Mark on "Farm Hand" on May 2nd of this year. Seems funny to feel the rush to do so a few years after it was first made. Maybe the rush came after feeling threatened by what I can only imagine is a superior beer made by a more successful brewery.

http://www.aboutintellectualproperty.com/122428/farm-hand

 

Whether it is the name of your brewery or one of your brands I am not sure it really matters. If one company went to the trouble, and expense of registering a trademark they are allowed to protect it. It's not about who is cooler, or who makes better beer or where you are distributed. That's the way the legal system works with respect to trademarks. I am sure Tired Hands takes advantage of the trademark system as much as every other company. So why is it when the trademark system is working against them it becomes some sort of sentimental thing?

 

A buddy of mine runs this web site, they did a good piece on Trademark disputes in craft brewing, it's worth a read. http://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/business-marketing/craft-beer-trademark-copyright-tips/

 

Oh I agree with you for sure. I was just saying it's worse if it's the name of the brewery vs. just one of their beers.