There’s something to be said for edginess, irreverence, non-conformance, or a push-the-limits style to marketing your product and business. Yet, even those who do it well generally know when to take something seriously and cut the crap.
As we wrote last week, West Sixth Brewing Co. recently expressed its frustrations over a trademark lawsuit by adopting an in-your-face style social media campaign against Magic Hat Brewing Co. West Sixth started a “www.nomoremagichat.com” website and encouraged its fans to write disparaging comments on Magic Hat’s facebook page in response to their “corporate bullying.”
It’s one thing to encourage people to weigh in on the merits of an alleged trademark infringement, but quite another to play the David vs. Goliath Card in a manner that implies facts which are neither established nor true. (That link might get taken down in light of what you’ll read below.)
West Sixth and Magic Hat entered court-assisted mediation last week (which West Sixth claimed was due to the public pressure exerted by its fans) and word came today the parties had reached a settlement. The full details have not been made public, but one condition apparently requires them to issue the following public statement:
Official Release West Sixth & Magic Hat
The parties have a mutual interest in assuring that consumers perceive their products as distinct.
The parties have mutually resolved the issues addressed in the lawsuit in a manner that eliminates potential confusion about product origin and resolves the lawsuit in a mutually acceptable way.
To the extent West Sixth in any way represented that Magic Hat filed a frivolous lawsuit, that Magic Hat initiated litigation improperly, that Magic Hat was unresponsive in negotiating a resolution, that Cerveceria Costa Rica was itself involved in the dispute or its resolution, that Magic Hat claimed ownership of the numeral 6, that Magic Hat sued West Sixth after West Sixth had already acceded to its demands, that Magic Hat has no Vermont presence, or that Magic Hat sought to recover for or enjoin West Sixth from truthful public statements, such representations are retracted. West Sixth regrets that it in any manner communicated any inaccuracies, and hereby corrects those errors.
Both Magic Hat and West Sixth have agreed that this joint statement will be the last public communication from either side regarding the resolved dispute.
Each wishes the other good fortune and continued success.
West Sixth’s strategy worked marvelously for inciting its friends and fans (and bringing exposure to its brand), but clearly failed in every other category. Not only is West Sixth required to release a laundry list of all the inaccurate statements it made during its social media campaign, West Sixth is now apparently barred from making any further comments.*
Left to be revealed is what West Sixth (or Magic Hat, or both) is required to do to “eliminate potential confusion about product origin.” **
By all indications I can gain from the web, West Sixth appears to be a rather typical American craft brewery: popular in its area, brewing a variety of styles, giving back to the community, enjoying the wave of craft beer interest, etc. In other words, they haven’t adopted a particularly edgy, irreverent, non-conformist style to running their business. Which makes their choice to publicize their disagreement with the lawsuit in this manner all the more curious.
What might have been an interesting and legitimate argument about trademark infringement got entirely lost and mired in problems of potential defamation and other unrelated, messy issues.
Not a smart strategy.
As of the time this post was published, the mutual statement had been released on Magic Hat’s facebook page, but had not appeared on West Sixth’s facebook page or website.
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* In one of its web comments, West Sixth stated “We’ve talked to several lawyers, and they all agree there’s no legal merit to their lawsuit. And they’ve got fancy legal counsel out of New York, so they must be hearing the same thing.” If West Sixth did indeed talk to several lawyers and this is indeed what they said, it’s time for new legal counsel.
** Afternoon Update: it appears West Sixth agreed to remove the star-shaped icon from its logo and incorporate the words “West Sixth Brewing Lexington Kentucky” in a circular fashion around the logo. All in all, that does a good job of preserving West Sixth’s logo without having to make radical changes.
