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20 August 2018Trademarks

In-N-Out Burger sends pun-tastic trademark letter to brewery

US fast-food restaurant chain  In-N-Out Burger has sent a trademark enforcement letter frothing with puns to a California-based brewery.

Seven Stills, the recipient,  posted a picture of the letter on Instagram on August 14, adding the caption: “We count 9. Can you find them all?”

In the light-hearted message, In-N-Out said it felt obliged to “hop to action” in order to prevent “further issues from brewing” after receiving multiple reports of the In-N-Stout beer being featured on Seven Stills’ social media pages.

In July, Seven Stills  shared the news via Instagram that its “barrel-aged neapolitan milkshake stout” would be coming soon. The picture shows a can that includes the branding ‘In-N-Stout Beer’, complete with arrow and palm tree logos.

According to the burger chain, the branding and logos of the new beer infringe its registered trademarks.

In-N-Out added that “we are attempting to clearly distill our rights by crafting an amicable approach with you, rather than barrel through this”.

The letter, which asks the brewery not to sell or promote goods featuring its marks and to remove images of In-N-Stout from its online channels, concluded by saying, “we look forward to resolving this in good spirits”.

But whether the letter has worked seems a little hazy.

Just three days after Seven Stills revealed the letter,  it announced the release of the new stout on Instagram. While the branding of the cans has been changed and the new name appears to be Poopy-Di-Scoop, the post included the promise that “the first one hundred customers ALSO get free In-N-Out burgers!”

A  later post promoting the cans also shows that consumers have been confused by the whole episode.

One commenter said: “So confused, sitting at the  @sevenstillsnobhill no burgers and no In N Stout. I understand it was supposed to be a different can but different name too? So Poop Scoop is it?”

The same person also commented: “is this Poop Scoop the In N Stout or no? Bartenders confused too... original burger post wasn’t too clear where they were. I won’t hate you though.”

This is not the first time a company has taken a friendly approach to trademark enforcement.

In 2012, Jack Daniel’s  sent a cease-and-desist letter to an author whose proposed cover design allegedly mimicked the company’s trademarks. The company even offered to contribute towards the costs of redesigning the cover.

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