Stone Brewing wins TM dispute with Molson Coors
A California jury has ruled in favour of Stone Brewing in its four-year trademark infringement battle with Molson Coors over who was first to use “stone” branding in connection with beer.
The brewery announced the win on Friday, revealing that the court found Molson Coors (previously MillerCoors) had infringed its “Stone” trademark when it rebranded its flagship “Keystone” beer to “Stone”.
According to Stone Brewing, Molson Coors sold more than $1.7 billion in beer using infringing Stone branding.
The three-week trial took place at the US District Court for the Southern District of California before US District Judge Roger Benitez and an eight-person jury.
While the verdict has not been published, Reuters reports that Molson Boors must pay Brewery $56 million for causing consumer confusion.
Maria Stipp, Stone Brewing CEO said: "From the moment our team saw Keystone's intentional theft of the ‘Stone’ trademark, we believed this day would come. We are committed to doing everything in our power to protect the incredible reputation of the Stone brand and the passionate team who built it.
“We'd like to thank the team at BraunHagey & Borden for their representation of our case. They put their heart, souls and talent into it, and we couldn't have asked for anything more than that."
Stone Brewing first sued Molson Coors in February 2018, accusing the beverage giant of featuring its marks and “stone-centric branding” on its beverages.
It claimed said that ‘Key’ was dropped from the Molson Coors’ Keystone brand was “deceptive” and “quietly announced” by the company in April 2017 and that new packaging and logos were created to emphasise ‘Stone’ as the brand’s primary mark.
Through its complaint, Stone Brewing said it intended to halt Molson Coors’ “misguided campaign to steal consumer loyalty and awesome reputation of Stone’s craft brews and iconic ‘Stone’ trademark”.
Molson Coors also filed a countersuit against Stone in April 2018, claiming that it was the first to use “Stone” branding in the beer market, with the registration of “Keystone” in 1991, prior to the founding of Stone Brewing.
However, The San-Diego jury ruled in favour of Stone Brewing on Friday, four years following the initial complaint.
Stone Brewing Co-Founder Greg Koch added: "This is a historic day for Stone Brewing, and for the craft beer industry. Molson Coors threatened our heritage, but we stood up to that threat. They will put the 'Key' back in 'Keystone' ending their hostile four-year co-op of the Stone name.”
Molson Coors has been approached for comment.
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