CLE: Don't Brew Up Trouble: Trademark and Advertising Issues in the Craft Beverage Industry

This program provides a brief overview of trademark and advertising basics and an in depth look at how these legal issues play out in the craft beverage industry.

Discussion includes insights regarding the current views on craft beverage branding and labeling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

Rebecca Crandall (McGuire Wood & Bissette), Beer City’s only board certified trademark specialist, discusses likelihood of confusion in examination of trademark applications before the USPTO, real life disputes, and coexistence agreements.

Rick Jackson (McGuire Wood & Bissette), the professor of brewery law at the Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast and attorney for the Asheville Brewers Alliance, speaks to federal labeling regulations, including discussion of the impact of In re Tam on craft beverage labeling.

One of the most talked about craft brewing trademark disputes, the opposition proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board between Bell’s Brewing (Kalamazoo, Michigan) and Innovation Brewing (Sylva, North Carolina), is right in our backyard. Hear from Doug Reiser, the owner of Burial Brewing, who is also one of the attorneys representing Innovation Brewing, as this dispute continues to head toward trial.

More info and registration: http://gateway.ncbar.org/store/seminar/seminar.php?seminar=74729