AB InBev uses ‘Johnny Appleseed’ mark to force company’s name change

Alcohol manufacturer Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev has forced John Appleseed’s, a fruit drinks producer based in Northern Ireland, to change its name because it causes confusion with one of its brands.

Colin Mackey, owner of John Appleseed’s, said AB InBev demanded he changed the name because it will cause “confusion” with its own Johnny Appleseed brand of alcoholic apple cider drinks.

Mackey had attempted to register a trademark for the name of his business at the UK Intellectual Property Office in October last year.

But, according to a blog post on his company’s website, he was then contacted by AB InBev, which claimed the mark would cause confusion with a Community trademark (CTM) it owns for ‘Johnny Appleseed’, obtained in 2012.

Mackey subsequently withdrew the UK application.

Both names are based on John Appleseed, a well-known traveller who distributed apple seeds across North America in the 18th century.

Mackey, writing on the company’s website, said: “It’s with great disappointment that it has come to my attention that AB has demanded that John Appleseed’s cease trading with immediate effect.

“They [AB InBev] remain unmoved in their stance and argue that consumers may be ‘confused’ between the brands and products. It appears that compromise, compassion and common sense are qualities that don’t exist within the modern corporate machine,” he added.

The fruit drinks company will now be renamed Mango Street and will operate from a new domain name, which will contain the new name.

A spokesperson for AB told WIPR that they got in touch with Mackey once they noticed a trademark application for "identical products" under the name John Appleseed.

"We felt consumers would be confused by multiple products. As such, we initiated a dialogue with the applicant who subsequently withdrew the application," the spokesperson added.