Vampire Brands and TI Beverage Group, companies out of California that market vampire themed wine, attempted to sue Clown Shoes Brewing. Cutting the story down to the bare minimum, the group brought a Belgian brewed beer – Vampire Pale Ale into the United States around six months after Clown Shoes anniversary brew Vampire Slayer first hit distribution.
The legal hiccup is that Vampire Brands and TI Beverage Group filed a trademark months before the beer was introduced in the states. The lawsuit came with a few demands, paraphrased below by Gregg Berman of Clown Shoes.
1. The court should rule Clown Shoes unfairly competed with Vampire Brands and infringed on their trademarks, including Vampire, Vampyre, Vampire Vineyards, Chateau du Vampire, Dracula and others.
2. The court should “ order that the Defendants’ ill-gotten gains and all sales proceeds wrongfully acquired by Defendants by means of Defendants wrongful use of Plaintiffs’ trademarks and their support of such acts of unfair competition and false advertising be turned over to Plaintiffs along with interest.
3. The court should award an amount to be determined at trial but at least an amount equivalent to treble the amount of Defendants’ illicit profits or Plaintiffs’ lost profits, whichever is greater.
4. The court award judgment against the Defendants for the full costs of this action, including attorney’s fees reasonably incurred by Plaintiffs.
No cease and desist was ever issued. Instead of going to court to fight the entities, (at a cost of nearly $400,000) the brewery is changing the name to Undead Party Crasher Imperial Stout. The recipe is exactly the same as Vampire Slayer, (complete with holy water) but the name as you can see has changed.
Of course, the label is steeped in “what I’m really thinking” about this case. I think they’ve earned it.
Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Holy Water)
Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft
11% ABV
I should trademark “Plaintiff” and “defendant”. I’d make a killing in the US.