Friday, April 18, 2014

Rogue vs. Rogue's Harbor

Oregon Brewing Company, the company behind the Rogue Brewery in Oregon, this week filed a lawsuit against a micro brewery in upstate New York over its use of the term "Rogue" in connection with beer.

Rogue Brewery is one of the largest craft breweries in the US (it was #27 in the latest Brewers Association rankings). It has been using the ROGUE name since 1989 and owns a federal trademark registration for the mark.




Rogue's Harbor Brewing is a micro brewery located outside of Ithaca, NY on the Finger Lakes Beer Trail. According to its website,
"We started brewing in 2011 offering 5 of our own craft beers... Every batch we brew produces 4 kegs offering plenty of beer to go around for the restaurant or for growler fills to take with you."

See: http://www.roguesharbor.com/our-beer#.U1F72FclWoY



It appears that the brewery is connected to the Rogue's Harbor Inn, which is a bed & breakfast that has been open since 1830. See: http://www.roguesharbor.com/history#.U1F9DFclWoY


A copy of the complaint can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/219036773/Rogue-Complaint

1 comment:

  1. Regardless of how long the Inn has been in (continuous?) operation (1830, presumably as Rogue's harbor the entire time) on it's face, this looks like a 'loser' for the young brewery (2011). It's hard to imagine that these guys did NOT know of Rogue's existence. eg Time to rebrand/label/order new glassware, T's, signage et al. rec v 'billable hours' in a doomed defense.

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