a-namenko-istockphoto-com-whisky-
20 February 2017Trademarks

Burns like hell: Sazerac files TM infringement suit over Fireball

US-based distillery Sazerac Brands has filed a trademark infringement and trade dress lawsuit against an alcohol manufacturer.

Sazerac filed its suit (pdf) against Caribbean Distillers at the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Louisville Division on Wednesday, February 15.

The alcohol business said trade dress and trademarks for its Fireball brand of whisky had been infringed and diluted by Caribbean Distillers.

Sazerac also said that Caribbean Distillers had competed unfairly and wilfully infringed its marks.

Sazerac uses the slogan “Tastes like heaven, burns like hell” for its Fireball whisky. The company has marketed and sold distilled spirits in the US under its ‘Fireball’ trademark since early 2001.

The Fireball alcoholic drink is a cinnamon-flavoured Canadian whisky and has some of Sazerac’s “most well-known” trade dress and marks.

Sazerac owns a number of marks for the term ‘Fireball’ at the US Patent and Trademark Office and they cover goods such as liqueurs, whisky and cocktails.

According to the suit, Caribbean Distillers has infringed Sazerac’s marks and trade dress through its cinnamon-flavoured whisky product Mad Hen.

Sazerac argued that Caribbean Distillers’ Mad Hen product is “substantially similar” to its ‘Fireball’ trade dress.

“Mad Hen is golden brown in colour, cinnamon flavoured, and marketed in clear bottles of identical flask and featuring the same colour combination as Sazerac’s ‘Fireball’ trade dress,” the suit said.

The colour combination is orange-yellow, red and black.

Sazerac asked for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial, among others.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Trademarks
14 August 2018   Sazerac Company yesterday accused a Massachusetts-based liqueur producer of infringing trademarks relating to the Dr McGillicuddy’s brand of flavoured spirits.
Influential Women in IP
15 September 2020   In a victory for the US whiskey brand, Sazerac, the English High Court has ruled that its trademark for its whiskey brand was infringed.
Trademarks
9 August 2021   The English Court of Appeal has upheld a prior ruling that Liverpool Gin Distillery had indirectly infringed a trademark belonging to Sazerac Company—one of America’s oldest distilleries.