MillerCoors scores preliminary injunction against AB InBev
A US judge handed a partial victory to beer brewing company MillerCoors late last week in a lawsuit for false advertising and misuse of the ‘Miller’ and ‘Coors’ trademarks.
District Judge William Conley on Friday, May 24, barred competitor Anheuser Busch InBev (AB InBev) from using certain parts of its marketing that suggested MillerCoors used corn syrup in the production of its light beers.
Conley handed MillerCoors a preliminary injunction which, although more narrow in scope than that sought by MillerCoors, barred AB InBev from making statements such as “Bud Light contains ‘100% less corn syrup’ [than Miller]”. Bud Light is AB InBev’s flagship light beer.
During Super Bowl LIII, which took place in February this year, AB InBev launched an advertising campaign which highlighted MillerCoors use of corn syrup in brewing Miller Lite and Coors Light, compared with AB InBev’s use of rice in Bud Light.
In March, MillerCoors filed suit, alleging false advertising and dilution of its trademarks.
“AB InBev plotted an extensive and pervasive advertising scheme designed to frighten consumers into switching away from Miller Lite and Coors Light to Bud Light,” alleged the complaint.
MillerCoors went on to claim: “And, likely because its focus group studies demonstrated it would work, AB invested an enormous amount of money—over $13 million in media time to convey the message to nearly 100 million consumers during Super Bowl LIII alone—to perpetuate the consumer confusion.”
According to MillerCoors, while Miller Lite and Coors Light do use corn syrup to aid fermentation (while Bud Light uses rice), corn syrup is not in the final product, since it is consumed by the yeast during fermentation.
Late last week, Conley granted MillerCoors an injunction, after finding that AB InBev was aware of consumer concerns about corn syrup and that it “hoped consumers would interpret advertising statements about ‘made with corn syrup’ or ‘brewed with corn syrup’ as corn syrup actually being in the finished products”.
AB InBev also submitted a motion to dismiss MillerCoor’s trademark dilution claim, relying on the doctrine of fair use, but this was dismissed by the court.
“Accordingly, the court agrees with plaintiff that it had no obligation to anticipate defendant’s reliance on this doctrine in its complaint. Regardless, defendant will have an opportunity to press this ground at summary judgment, or even to press for dismissal of the dilution claim sooner ... if there truly is no good faith basis to assert that claim over a fair use defence,” said Conley.
He deferred ruling on whether Bud Light packaging, which claims the beer has “no syrup”, needs to be removed from shelves. Both parties may brief the court on this matter.
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