Law Firm of

As the pool of super-cool and available brewery and beer names grows smaller, so to will the amount of legal actions taken. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear about a case where no litigation took place. Where two parties talked and worked it out.

Or as the cool guys (and Fran) from The Full Pint put it: “So no cease and desist letter, no venomous email threads, no 20 page forum thread talking about the big guy is going after the little guy, just two sets of hard working dudes who have similar tastes in company names who worked it out in the end.”

No, this wasn’t a case of brewery vs. brewery but it is how the big boys in a business should play. Have your branding and trademarks set, hire a smart but not auto-litigious lawyer, then call to protect your brand with the hoped for outcome of no court dates.

Check out the Full story HERE.

Rules and Regulations

I promise to get back to happy beer news with the next post today but it seems the State Government of Oregon has reinterpreted ORS 471.403 so as to ban home brew competitions!

IN OREGON! IN 2010!

Now I think the Tea Party (aside from choosing an ironic name, since they are represented by chosen politicians before being taxed) is too “me” first and community second but when government does stupid crap like this, you can see why the anger has arisen.

Enough vitriol by me. Check out this well written post by Lisa Morrison, one of the leading lights in the Oregon beer scene. After reading, please write to the Oregon government and let them know as a purchaser of beer from Oregon, you think they have misread the law.