A win...or maybe a draw

Thanks to Geoff Griggs for just updating me on the latest in the Monteith's trademark saga. DB Breweries has cancelled the registration of its saison trademark, but not radler. The full media release is below, but it comes down to 'we're not using saison so will relinquish it, but we're using radler and so we won't relinquish that'.

Interestingly, even in their own media release they refer to it as 'Monteith's Radler' rather than just Radler, the former being the brand name they should have registered - as it is a brand name, radler is a style. If the term 'radler' was so distinctive to Monteith's that it needs to be trademarked to protect their investment, you might have thought they wouldn't need the qualifier.

Still, congratulations to DB Breweries for taking this step. Hopefully they will relinquish the radler trademark too before it gets too hot to really enjoy the Monteith's Winter Ale that's sitting impatiently in my cellar since the boycott.

Media Statement

September 2009

DB CANCELS SAISON TRADEMARK

DB Breweries is in the process of cancelling the registration of its Saison trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ). The company has held the trademark since April 2002.

DB Breweries’ general manager marketing Clare Morgan says the decision to cancel the trademark was a logical one given the company hasn’t produced Saison for a considerable time.

“We haven’t brewed Monteith's Saison for six years and we have no intention of re-launching it to the market as it no longer fits our current Monteith’s portfolio. The brand was very well received when it was first launched but we ceased production in 2003.”

Clare Morgan says the cancellation of the Saison trademark has no bearing on the company’s ‘Radler’ trademark.

“Monteith’s Radler has been in the market for nearly 10 years and is one of our most popular variants. Our investment over this time has been substantial and reflects our ongoing commitment to its longevity and success.”

ENDS

No Heineken, no sense of humour (update)

Roger Protz just passed me a link to fuller coverage of the Keineken story. Judging by the number of hits that this blog has received from searches for 'Keineken' and "no Heineken", I think Conrad Engler - who is quoted in the story - is exactly right. Heineken has scored an own goal with their legal action. Of course, Heineken International N.V. owns DB Breweries of New Zealand (jointly with Fraser and Neave Limited of Singapore), who own Monteith's so rapid and aggressive defences of trademarks seems to be a part of the corporate culture.

Beer Brawl

Heineken not Amused by Swiss 'Keineken' Campaign

Heineken has gone to court to stop a local Swiss group from distributing a spoof brand called Keineken (No Heineken). Local beer fans decided to launch the brew in protest at the Dutch brewer's increasing dominance of the Swiss beer market.

A judge in the Swiss canton Obwalden has ordered a supply of 1,200 Keineken bottles and matching glasses confiscated after Heineken filed a complaint for trademark infringement.

The Keineken ('Kein Heineken' or No Heineken) campaign is in response to recent acquisitions by the Dutch beer giant on the Swiss beer market. A year ago Heineken acquired the Swiss brewer Eichhof from Lucerne. According to Conrad Engler of the Keineken campaign, this meant that "the last big independent Swiss brewer ended up in foreign hands."

Eight years ago, when Carlsberg took over the Feldschlösschen brewery in Basel, local beer aficionados founded the Unser Bier (Our Beer) brewery in the same city. The Keineken campaign in Lucerne was inspired by this.

On Aug. 19 Keineken deposited the Keineken trademark with the Swiss patent bureau and had Unser Bier brew up a supply of Keineken beer. But before the 120 Keineken members could even taste the beer, the police had already sealed the lot.

The small scope of the Keineken campaign is no argument, said a Heineken spokesperson. "We see this as trademark infringement and we filed a complaint accordingly."

'Heineken Scored an Own Goal'

The speed with which Heineken acted took the Keineken activists by surprise. "On Friday morning we sent out a press release about Keineken and four hours later Heineken's lawyers were on the phone," said Engler. "They demanded an immediate halt to the distribution of Keineken and a withdrawal of the trademark."

Keineken said it was willing to halt the sale of Keineken until the trademark was processed, but Heineken was not appeased and went to court instead. That same night the police entered Engler's garage to seal the Keineken supply.

As a result there was no Keineken beer at a party on Saturday to commemorate the first anniversary of Heineken's acquisition of Eichhof. Instead the guests drank Unser Bier.

"As a precaution we blacked out the Keineken name on the t-shirts and flags we had made," said Engler. A good thing because the police came by later to check for further trademark infringement.

The judge is expected to take several weeks to reach a final verdict. Heineken is confident it will win the case, a spokesperson said.

But Engler expects to get the last laugh. "Heineken scored an own goal with their legal action," he said. "The media attention has brought us dozens of new members. Our goal -- to have an Engelberger Klosterbräu by 2012 -- has now come just a bit loser. With or without Keineken."

Give us back our haka

Irony has wonderful timing. In my post about DB Breweries' trademarking of “saison” and “radler” I posed a question to the NZ Intellectual Property Office about how they would regard a foreign trademarking of a New Zealand cultural symbol. Today I read that an English soccer club is to perform a flippant haka before its season-opening game this week, despite legal protests that it insults Maori.

While I am very sympathetic to the sensitivities around the issue, I hope that those in NZ who oppose the use of the “bastardised” haka “because it disrespects their heritage” wholeheartedly join in SOBA’s call to boycott DB. Let’s face it, the Monteith’s Radler is the beer equivalent of the Spice Girls doing the haka.

Amazingly, in a country that permitted the trademarking of descriptive beer names, the Intellectual Property Office rejected the trademarking of the haka in 2006 by the Ngati Toa people, the people who had such a strong moral claim to ownership to it that it was recognised in a $300 million treaty.