Big Sky Brewing sues A-B over slogan

When I first read the title of this thread, I thought you mixed up who was suing who.

 

Kudos to them for standing up to the big boys instead of the other way around.

That being said....with AB's corporate sponsored team of lawyers, I seriously doubt that Big Sky will stand a chance, and such an action will probably only lead to them losing massive amounts of money in legal fees, possibly jeopardizing the brewery as a whole.

 

AB should get sued for the sheer stupidity of those adds.

 

When I read this on a blog I thought it had merit, but we will see how the court feels. Will deep pockets prevail? Will Big Sky get enough publicity and increased business out of this to repay their court costs, assuming ABI doesn't settle amicably?

Waiting for all the anti ABI guys to weigh in with the "evil corporation" comments, rather than with opinions about who is in the right in this case.

 

The worst part about this is that AB gets to say "oh thats silly, lots of people use these phrases" and they will likely win, while if the lawsuit were reversed, it would fly in court and AB would end up owning big sky (which could end up happening anyway, with all the $ david cant hit goliath with). Its sad to see the influence of money detract from society.

 

I'm sure they'll settle out of court and Big Sky will get some undisclosed amount from AB.

 

Very curious WHEN Big Sky registered the phrase 'hold my beer and watch this'. Likely after the videos were released, otherwise, what reason would they have to trademark that? Am I going to get sued for quoting it here without the fine print? Has that always been their slogan? Terrible slogan, if so.

 

Based on the records at the US Patent and Trademark Office site, it was in 2009 ("edited for brevity" version below, from TESS search):

 

Interesting! Why on earth would they trademark that!? Big Sky must have a crystal ball.

I'm on their side now.

 

The article does a terrible job of explaining Big Sky's claim to this, not surprised... Yeah if the shoe was on the other foot, AB would be on them like an avalanche. Surprised someone hasn't grabbed that sooner, I'm sure I've heard that phrase way before 04 as a widely used expression.

 

interesting... I agree with chrunck... I bet AB writes big sky a check... if for no other reason to make them go away. I did some googling and sure enough big sky has been using that phrase.

Sure AB could probably beat the case... or at least bankrupt Big Sky in the process... but it's all about $$$. I am sure all Big Sky wants is some $ and AB to promise not to use their slogan in the future. It's not like AB's future hinges on this campaign.. heck I'd never heard of it until today. And I am sure AB would rather give Big Sky $50k then pay a bunch of lawyers $500k and look like a bunch of dicks (too late?) and have nothing to show for it even if they win.

 

Didn't Jeff Foxworthy use that in one of his Redneck jokes years back?

 

A-B will probably settle. It's not a legacy or iconic slogan for them. Even if they fought it by the time the case moved through the courts they would have moved on to their next ad campaign/slogan anyway.

 

Wonder how many AB corporate lawyers' heads will roll for not performing their due diligence?

 

Or buy the brewery outright?

 

This is what I was wondering. Other cases that have been in doubt have involved using something "similar" to a trademark. And the question becomes "what is too similar?". But in this case, the exact phrase was trademarked. Maybe the trademark shouldnt have been granted, but there was no reason for the AB lawyers to not find this in their search.

 

Or maybe the marketing team stepped out of process and bypassed legal consult? Not that that ever happens.

 

Does it ever happen?

Ive done enough work for big companies (including a few Fortune 5) to know that it doesnt happen. Or shouldnt, anyway. I used to get phone calls from legal late on Friday afternoons to verify information in commercials for a major retailer. And, of course, the ads were going to start on Sunday.

And you should see what tobacco legal does...wow...amazing detail editing on anything.