Brewery Near Me: Why You Should Name Your Brewery After a Location and Related Trademark Considerations

Author: Michael Kanach

Home for the Holidays

Whether you are traveling home for the holidays or visiting an old friend, the holiday season is a time to return to old favorites. For craft beer fans visiting home and looking for a place to gather, they will notice the brewery landscape has changed over the last few years. Whether you are visiting a large city or a small town, the number of new breweries may surprise you. In fact, the number of breweries in the United States has more than tripled recently, increasing from less than 2,000 in 2010 to more than 7,000 in 2018.¹ On November 20, 2018, the Brewers Association’s Bart Watson tweeted “Here are the ~1,000 breweries that have opened since last Thanksgiving,”² with a link to a google map showing new breweries that opened between November 25, 2017, and November 17, 2018.³ In addition, numerous breweries have recently shut down, been acquired, or changed names based on trademark disputes.

Searches for “Brewery Near Me” will be trending on Google and other search engines. For example, when you type “Brewery” into Google.com or Bing.com, both search engines will propose the search “Brewery Near Me.” Alternative results include “Brewery Near My Location,” or nearby city names, such as “Brewery San Francisco” and “Brewery Oakland.” With consumers searching on maps, in search engines, and in beer-focused applications such as Untappd and RateBeer, breweries need to stand out when their name shows up on the list.

From a trademark and branding perspective, you want consumers to recognize your name – and recognize it as a source of great beer. You want your name to communicate the quality of your product and differentiate your brewery from the others in your neighborhood. In other words, you want consumers to know what they can expect when they choose to visit your brewery or drink your beer. Are you known for your rotating selection, your hazy IPAs, your flagship lager, your barrel aged stouts, your sours, or your Belgians? Or maybe you’re known for your food, your staff, or other non-beer-related aspects of running a restaurant or brew pub.

Drink Local = Higher Brand Awareness

When the message is “drink local,” and thousands of smaller breweries are opening up to serve their local communities, it can be beneficial to tell your consumers where you are located. For many breweries, their location is not simply an address in a city or a town. It is also their brand.

In a discussion with Robert Cartwright of DataQuencher, which performs surveys of beer drinkers for breweries, his surveys have shown that location names can help certain breweries increase their brand awareness. The data shows that, for breweries up to about the 20,000 barrels mark, the breweries that have a location in their name have significantly higher brand awareness than other breweries. In other words, microbreweries may benefit from their location-based names, but regional brewers may not see much additional impact.

For example, in Virginia, Blue Mountain Brewery, located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains has a higher than anticipated awareness from beer drinkers in the State of Virginia. Given their production numbers (less than 15,000 barrels in 2017) and the size of the Virginia market, it would be normal for Blue Mountain to have a brand awareness in the high 20% to 35% range. Instead, DataQuencher’s recent survey results show that Blue Mountain Brewery has a brand awareness of 49% among VA beer drinkers. This location-based name may also help in each of the states through which the Blue Ridge Mountains extend—namely, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

With respect to the San Francisco Bay Area, certain microbreweries rank higher than anticipated in “brand awareness” based on their location-based names, including San Francisco Brewing Co., Alameda Island Brewing Company, Marin Brewing Company, and Oakland Brewing Company. See the recent chart below prepared by DataQuencher. It is not surprising to see some larger breweries with location-based names, such as Sierra Nevada and Russian River, at the top of the list.

Chart reproduced and used with permission.

DataQuencher’s recent survey evidence, which shows higher brand-awareness for breweries with location-based names, is consistent with the breweries who have earned their brand awareness through decades of sales and advertising, as well as distribution through large retail chains and to multiple states. Not surprisingly, many of the largest breweries in the United States have location-based names.⁴ In fact, about a third (17 of 50) of the Brewers Association’s list of the 50 top selling breweries in the United States in 2017 have location-based names.

The chart below includes a list of those breweries with an explanation of their location-based name for those unfamiliar with the local references. The cites to Wikipedia are because the USPTO will often cite to Wikipedia (or Urban Dictionary!) and other websites as a basis for refusing to register geographically descriptive trademarks.

In addition to the chart above, two more breweries in the top 50, DogFish Head (#12) and Allagash (#36), are named after small towns in the State of Maine,²⁸ which – while nowhere close to their brewery locations^{29 30} – both help tell a story about the brewers’ roots and the breweries’ small beginnings.

How Does a Brewery Obtain a Trademark for its City, Town, Mountains, River, Lake, or Street?

First, a little background about trademarks. Your trademark is your name, logo, or anything else that indicates your brewery is the source of a product or service.

A mark can be:

• a name of a beer or the brewery,
• a drawing (e.g., The Alchemist’s Heady Topper, 21^st Amendment’s various can designs),
• a color or color scheme (e.g., Russian River’s Pliny the Elder’s red circle on a forest green label),
• a shape (e.g., Bass’s red triangle, Heineken’s red star),
• a design,
• a slogan, or
• even the unique overall “look and feel” of the brewery, product, or packaging (or other forms of “trade dress”).

You obtain common law trademark rights when you begin to use the mark. If someone else used it first, you are a junior user and they are the senior user. To obtain nationwide rights to your trademark, you can file an application to register your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”).

One myth is that you don’t want to name your brewery after a location because it’s hard to get a trademark. While it is true that location-based names have inherent hurdles, including from a trademark perspective, there are also potential benefits from a trademark and branding perspective.

Those hurdles include difficulty in proving that your name is an indication that your brewery is the source of the beer. In trademark language, we call that “acquired distinctiveness,” or “secondary meaning.” It may take years for your brewery to build distinctiveness in the eyes of consumers, while a more unique and arbitrary name may obtain a registered trademark much faster.

Because locations are descriptive, the USPTO often refuses to register marks with a location is in the name. On one hand, the USPTO may refuse to register the mark because you are describing where you are located. In that case, the name is “geographically descriptive” and other breweries located there should be able to use that name to describe their brewery. One the other hand, if your name is a location where you are not located, the USPTO may refuse to register your mark on the basis that it is “geographically deceptively misdescriptive.” This means your name makes people believe you are from a location from which your beer does not originate, and that description is misleading and deceptive.

Relatedly, if you advertise your products as coming from a geographic location – but your beer is not from there – those false statements could give rise to a class action lawsuit for false advertising. Numerous lawsuits have been filed over the past several years. For example, class action lawsuits have been filed against Fosters (not imported from Australia),³¹ Becks (not imported from Germany),³² Kirin (not imported from Japan),³³ and Red Stripe (not imported from Jamaica).³⁴ While the breweries named as defendants in those class action lawsuits were some of the largest alcohol producers in the world – Miller Brewing Co. (Fosters), Anheuser-Busch (Becks, Kirin), and Diageo (Red Stripe) – plaintiffs could file similar lawsuits against craft beverage producers as well. So it is wise to clearly label where your brewery (or winery, meadery, or distillery) is located.

To avoid such misrepresentations in labeling and advertising, you will notice the labels for some breweries list more than one location. For example, Lagunitas clearly advertises that it is brewed in Petaluma, California and Chicago, Illinois.  Likewise, Sierra Nevada’s labels clearly advertise that it is brewed in Chico, California and Mills River, North Carolina.

While there are many considerations when it comes to branding and trademarks, these are several of the considerations with respect to location-based names. As is the case with all intellectual property, it is prudent to talk to an attorney about your strategy for obtaining and enforcing your trademarks.

For more information about trademarks and intellectual property, you can reach Michael Kanach a partner in the Intellectual Property and Food and Beverage groups at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani. Mike is also a practice group leader for the Beer, Wine, and Spirits Law group and the Entertainment and Recreation practice group. Mike’s email is mkanach@grsm.com and his phone number is 415-875-3211.
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¹ “Number of Breweries, Historical U.S. Brewery Count,” Brewers Association, https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/number-of-breweries/ (as of November 19, 2018).
² Bart Watson (@BrewersStats), https://twitter.com/brewersstats/status/1064927306571964416?s=11 (accessed (November 20, 2018, 9:03 AM)
³ “Breweries Opened in Last Year – New breweries that have opened between 11/25/2017 and 11/17/2018.” https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Bw583n55Vu4ghUsUyuOcOVFzjymeBU4p&usp=sharing
⁴ “Brewers Association Releases 2017 Top 50 Brewing Companies By Sales Volume,” Brewers Association, March 14, 2018, located at https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-releases-2017-top-50-brewing-companies-by-sales-volume/
⁵ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston
⁶ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(U.S.)
⁷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deschutes_River_(Oregon)
⁸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deschutes_County,_Oregon
⁹  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deschutes_National_Forest
¹⁰ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn
¹¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetwater_Creek_(Chattahoochee_River_tributary)
¹² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetwater_Creek_State_Park
¹³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Glarus,_Wisconsin
¹⁴ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska
¹⁵ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abita_River
¹⁶ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abita_Springs,_Louisiana
¹⁷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens_Point,_Wisconsin
¹⁸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Trail
¹⁹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_River_(Oregon)
²⁰ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_Valley
²¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uinta_Mountains
²²  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uinta_National_Forest
²³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uintah_and_Ouray_Indian_Reservation
²⁴ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uinta_National_Forest
²⁵ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Coast
²⁶ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Coast_(California)
²⁷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wachusett
²⁸ “How Your Favorite Brewery Got Its Name” Thrillist, Lee Breslouer, located at www.thrillist.com/amphtml/drink/nation/dogfish-head-name-how-your-favorite-brewery-got-its-name
²⁹ DogFish Head is a name of a small location in Southport, Maine, over 9 hours away and 573 miles away from the DogFish Head Craft Brewery location in Milton, Delaware
³⁰ Allagash is a town and river in northern border of Maine, 5.5 hours away and 341 miles away from the Allagash Brewery location in Portland, ME.
³¹ “Man Sues Over Foster’s Beer Being Brewed in Texas, Not Australia,” Time, Sarah Begley (December 15, 2015), http://time.com/4148740/man-sues-fosters-beer/
³² “Anheuser-Busch Admits Beck’s Isn’t Actually German, Looks to Settle Class Action Lawsuit” Food and Wine, Mike Pomranz (June 22, 2017),  https://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/drink/anheuser-busch-admits-beck-s-isn-t-actually-german-looks-settle-class-action-lawsuit
³³ “If You Bought Kirin Beer In The Last 5 Years, You Could Get $12,” Huffington Post, Harry Bradford (January 7, 2015 5:16 pm ET, January 9, 2015, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/kirin-beer-money_n_6430732.html
³⁴ “Red Stripe Is the Latest Beer to Get Sued Over Mislabeling Where It Is Brewed,” Food and Wine, Mike Pomranz (June 22, 2017) https://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/drink/red-stripe-latest-beer-get-sued-over-mislabeling-where-it-brewed

Craft Beer and Trademarks – 10 Takeaways from the 2017 College Football Season

Author: Michael Kanach

Nothing pairs quite like beer and football. As we approach Super Bowl LII, there is no shortage of articles informing businesses how to avoid a trademark dispute with the National Football League (NFL), particularly regarding the registered trademark “Super Bowl.”^{1 2 3 4 5}

With advertisers paying millions of dollars for a 30 second advertisement spot during the “Big Game,” there are millions of reasons for the NFL to ask companies to cease and desist using its trademarks when used without authorization. AdAge estimates that marketers will have spent about $5.4 billion total in advertising over these 52 years of Super Bowls.⁶ An example of one brewery planning to make a big spend on Super Bowl Sunday is Gambrinus’ Spoetzl Brewery of San Antonio, Texas, one of the largest craft breweries in the nation.⁷ They are prepared to spend $1.2 million for a 30-second advertisement for its Shiner Bock beer brand to air across the State of Texas during the Super Bowl.⁸

According to The Brewers Association, there were more than 6,000 breweries operating in the United States in 2017.⁹ But, of course, not all breweries have the budget to spend on a television advertising spot during the Super Bowl, so craft breweries often have to come up with creative ways to get noticed. One way breweries have worked to obtain a local following is to support their local teams, professional and collegiate, especially during the football season. Sometimes, in this fandom, breweries (inadvertently) cross over the line into using their favorite team’s intellectual property without approval.

The following four stories from the 2017 college football season provide trademark and branding lessons for craft breweries who want to use trending themes, viral stories, names, and images from their local institutions – to sell beer.

As the images and stories below demonstrate, trademarks are not simply names, logos, and slogans. A trademark can be anything that indicates the source of a product or service. As these packages show, a trademark can be a color scheme, distinctive font, single letter, image (e.g., a train or a famous building on campus), trending hashtag, viral event, and even the design of a special necklace. The main lesson you can learn from these stories about craft breweries using others’ trademarks is to obtain prior written approval from the trademark owner.

Purdue University wins injunction over Boilermakers Beer:

In June 2016, an individual in Naples, Florida, obtained a trademark in the State of Indiana for the marks “Purdue Boilermakers Brewing” and “Boilermakers Beer” claiming first use in 2016.¹⁰ According to the defendant’s website, “Sports Beer Brewing Company™ is an intellectual property holding company consisting of a portfolio of sports trademarks, registrations and service marks for sports teams through out (sic) the United States.”¹¹ It’s not clear whether Sports Beer Brewing Company actually brews beer themselves, since their website says they “will contract with a local micro-brewery in your area for a tasting to decide what type of beer you want to brew.”¹²

The Trustees of Purdue University own several federally registered trademarks, including “Purdue,” “Boilermakers,”¹³ and various images of trains or locomotives.¹⁴ One such registered trademark for BOILERMAKERS claims a first use in commerce at least as early as in 1959, decades before Sports Beer Brewing Company filed an application to register the trademark with the state of Indiana in 2016.¹⁵ The Trustees of Purdue University filed a lawsuit in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, to enforce their trademarks.

Purdue licenses its logos and trademarks to Peoples Brewing Company, located in Lafayette, Indiana, for labeling on a beer named “Boiler Gold.” Below left, is an image of the Boiler Gold beer can’s label,¹⁶ which contains authorized references to Purdue, a train, and the distinctive letter “P” and the school’s color scheme of “campus gold” and black.¹⁷ The infringer’s logo is shown below right, with the University’s name on a black background and underneath a gold and white-colored train.

On November 9, 2017, Purdue University obtained an injunction against Sports Beer Brewing Company and its owner Paul Parshall. The court found the defendant’s trademarks were confusingly similar to Purdue’s trademarks. The injunction read, in part, that Paul Parshall was:

… enjoined to immediately discontinue using or offering or licensing the terms “Purdue”, “Boilermakers”, “Boilermakers Beer” and “Purdue Boilermakers Brewing” or any other marks which feature the words “Boilermakers” and/or “Purdue” for any commercial purpose.

Sports Beer Brewing Company’s ownership of a state trademark did not prevent the university from obtaining an order enjoining it from selling products with the school’s names, logo, and color scheme. According to the defendant’s website, http://www.sportsbeerbrewing.com/, defendant still owns numerous other trademarks for beer names under a “claim your brand” link. These names include the following schools: Pitt (Pitt Panthers Brewing Co • Pitt Panthers Beer) and the University of Miami (Miami Hurricanes Brewing • Canes Beer), which are discussed below for other reasons.¹⁸

“Hail to Pitt” (University of Pittsburgh) – #H2P Beer Labels Removed:

In a separate dispute related to the University of Pittsburg (a.k.a. Pitt), a Pennsylvania craft brewery’s use of Pitt’s trademarks is a lesson for brewers to make sure to get written approval from the university before making any substantial investments in labels, bottles, and cans. Voodoo Brewery, located in Meadville, Pennsylvania, began selling a beer under the name “#H2P” with cans designed in Pitts’ colors and script and an image of a cathedral.¹⁹ This name “H2P” is short for “Hail to Pitt” and was a trending hashtag for the university during the college football season.²⁰ Pitt owns a registered trademark for “H2P,” which was registered in 2011 and claimed a first use in commerce in 2010. In addition, Pitt owns at least two registered trademarks for “Pitt” with stylized font, and with a distinctive letter “P,” claiming a first use in commerce at least as early as 1990.^{21 22} Pitt’s colors are royal blue and yellow (or alternatively navy blue and gold).²³ The Cathedral is focused throughout the University’s advertising, as shown in the school’s official “Graphic Standards.”²⁴ The letter “P” in the brewery’s “H2P” logo appears to be the same “P” in the University’s registered “Pitt” logo, which has been used for decades.²⁵

According to an October 2017 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Voodoo Brewery’s brewmaster was a former Pitt student and involved in athletics, and the brewery believed it had the University’s approval because the brewery had previously sold these beers on campus.²⁶ However, there was nothing in writing from the University approving the packaging, so the brewery was forced to cease and desist using the schools trademarked hashtag, distinctive name, images, and color scheme.

University of Miami Hurricanes – Turnover Chain IPA Changes Name to “Chains”:

Like a viral hashtag, craft breweries tend to follow trending stories relating to their local teams and try to incorporate them into their beer names, labels, and designs. In 2017, J. Wakefield Brewing, in Miami, Florida, announced that it would brew a beer called “TURNOVER CHAIN” IPA.²⁷ The “Turnover Chain” was a reference to the 2017 Miami Hurricanes’ football team’s over-sized, Cuban-linked, gold chain with a large “U” (for Miami University) in the school’s colors: orange and green. This chain is ceremoniously placed around a defensive player’s neck to wear on the sideline after forcing a turnover.

On November 16, 2017, the University of Miami filed a trademark application for TURNOVER CHAIN for various goods (although not including beer) claiming a date of first use in commerce in September 2017. (U.S. Trademark Serial No. 87688132). In addition, the University of Miami’s “Visual Identity Manual” explains that the University’s colors are orange and green and shows examples of the “U” logo, with orange on the left and green on the right.²⁸

J. Wakefield Brewing in Miami, Florida filed a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which was approved on November 19, 2017.²⁹

An article on SouthFlorida.com’s website said that a former Miami Hurricane’s football player was on board and promoting the Miami-themed beer.³⁰ In a separate Press Release in Brewbound, the brewery discussed how the founder and brewmaster Johnathan Wakefield was a big Miami Hurricane’s fan and met with a former player. But the brewer’s status as a true fan was not enough. Neither was label approval from the government or concept approval from a former football player. The brewery did not have approval from the University.

Shortly after initial announcements of the “TURNOVER CHAIN” beer, J. Wakefield Brewing began selling a product named “Chains” which no longer included the word “TURNOVER” and no longer included a green/orange color scheme. In an article in Brewbound, a disclaimer was included and the following explanation was provided related to the beer name: “Chains, formerly known as Turnover, is not affiliated with any educational institution and is not being marketed to college students.”³¹

Iowa University – “Iowa City Wave” Milkshake IPA:

Ending on a high note, the 2017 college football season had a true feel-good-story based in Iowa. At the end of the first quarter, at each of the University of Iowa home football games, the entire stadium full of more than 60,000 fans would turn towards the new UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital that overlooked the field.³² The fans inside Kinnick Stadium would wave to the children and their families inside the hospital, who would wave back. If you have not seen it yet, watch a video.³³ It’s powerful.

Taking this trending, season-long, feel-good, local story and imagining a way to support their local team and local children, Backpocket Brewing in Iowa decided to brew a beer and donate the proceeds to the Children’s Hospital.³⁴ After selling the “Iowa City Wave” milkshake IPA for a limited time, the brewery delivered a check of over $600 to the hospital, posting on Twitter the following message on November 20, 2017: “Thank you everyone who came out to the taproom & enjoyed our milkshake IPA to help us raise over $600 for the @UIchildrens #IowaCraftBeer.”³⁵

While it may not be authorized by,³⁶ sponsored by, or affiliated with the university,³⁷ it is nice to see the donation being put to good use. It is not clear whether the brewery and the University or the hospital have been in contact regarding this beer name. This is a unique situation – but not because the brewery is making donations to the Children’s Hospital. For example, the outcome of the trademark disputes related to Purdue, Pitt, and Miami-branded craft beer would not have been different even if proceeds of sales were donated. Rather, it is a unique situation because it is not clear who owns “The Wave.” At this time, the University has not filed an application to register a trademark containing the word “Wave” for any goods and services. However, this new tradition of the “Wave” is likely to continue into next football season and it may become a clear indication of source for the University and/or the Children’s Hospital.

Conclusion:

The following do NOT automatically authorize you to use your favorite college’s trademarks:

1. You are “local.”
2. You are the #1 fan of the #1 team.
3. You registered a trademark with the State.
4. You obtained a COLA label approval for your label.
5. You have been using a name in your advertising for years.
6. You donate money to the school.
7. You got approval from alumni (not even from famous alumni).
8. You have sold that beer at the school before.
9. You filed an application to register a trademark with the USPTO.
10. You are donating all proceeds of all sales.

In conclusion, get approval from the owner of the trademark. Get it in writing. And then make sure you comply with the university’s branding requirements.If you do not have approval, check the branding requirements to familiarize yourself with the school’s brand so you can make sure you do not step over the line.

While each of the examples discussed above relate to universities, these lessons apply to the major leagues as well. For example, Boulevard Brewing was one of the first breweries to work with a Major League Baseball team when it became the official craft beer sponsor of the Kansas City Royals.^{38 39} In the San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing partnered with both MLB’s San Francisco Giants (“Los Gigantes” Mexican Style Lager) and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors – using team logos and color schemes in their packaging.^{40 41} In addition, San Jose’s Gordon Biersch partnered with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks by creating a special “Chum” red dry hopped ale in team colors and including the team logo.⁴² These examples of official sponsorships and authorized uses of trademarks include official announcements and press releases.

Michael Kanach is a Partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property and Food & Beverage practice groups, and a frequent speaker and writer on craft beer trademark law. For more information about Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, including the firm’s specialization in the craft beer industry, please visit www.grsm.com/practices/food-beverage/craft-breweries and https://www.gordonrees.com/practices/intellectual-property.

Mr. Kanach is also a member of the firm’s Entertainment, Fashion, Media & Sports practice group. For more information, please visit https://www.gordonrees.com/practices/entertainment-media-sports.
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¹ “How to Use the Super Bowl to Promote Your Business – Not!” Small Business Trends, Joshua Sophy, January 28, 2018. https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/01/super-bowl-trademark-rules.html
² “Super Bowl or the Game That Shall Not Be Named!” Hop Law, Garner & Ginsburg, P.A., December 20, 2017. http://www.hoppylawyers.com/super-bowl-game-shall-not-named/
³ “The NFL Pretending Trademark Law Says Something It Doesn’t Leads To Hilariously Amateurish Ads For ‘The Big Game’ – from the the-game-that-shan’t-be-named dept” Tech Dirt, Timothy Geigner, January 29, 2018. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180126/09444139092/nfl-pretending-trademark-law-says-something-it-doesnt-leads-to-hilariously-amateurish-ads-big-game.shtml
⁴ “Making Fair Use of the Super Bowl Trademark” Duets Blog, Steve Baird, September 25, 2017. https://www.duetsblog.com/2017/09/articles/advertising/making-fair-use-of-the-super-bowl-trademark/
⁵ “Securing necessary copyright and trademark rights for broadcasts and promotions related to the NFL championship games and Super Bowl 52” Lerman Senter PLLC (Lexology), January 11, 2018. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=92ce3502-82e6-4768-8721-d279df297589 http://www.lermansenter.com/assets/attachments/758.htm
⁶ “Big Game Punting: Super Bowl Scores $5.4 Billion In Ad Spending Over 52 Years” AdAge, Bradley Johnson, January 11, 2018. http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/super-bowl-ad-spending-history-charts-52-years/311881/
⁷ “Brewers Association Releases 2017 Top 50 Brewing Companies By Sales Volume” Brewers Association, March 14, 2018, https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-releases-2017-top-50-brewing-companies-by-sales-volume/
⁸ “Craft Brewing and Distilling News for January 24, 2018” Shanken News Daily, January 24, 2018 http://www.shankennewsdaily.com/index.php/2018/01/24/20038/craft-brewing-distilling-news-january-24-2018/
⁹ “2017 Craft Beer In Review” Press Release, The Brewers Association, December 13, 2017. https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/2017-craft-beer-review/
¹⁰ Indiana Government website trademark search page: http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/trademarks/
¹¹ http://www.sportsbeerbrewing.com/claim-your-brand-.html
¹² http://www.sportsbeerbrewing.com/about-us.html
¹³ U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4497301.
¹⁴ U.S. Trademark Registration Nos. 2023046 and 2023047.
¹⁵ https://www.whois.com/whois/sportsbeerbrewing.com
¹⁶ TTB ID 17283001000314 https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=17283001000314
¹⁷ https://www.purdue.edu/brand/downloads/508_Quick-Brand-Guide-PDF-300.pdf
¹⁸ http://www.sportsbeerbrewing.com/claim-your-brand-.html (last viewed on January 29, 2018).
¹⁹ “Pitt drops trademark hammer on Voodoo Brewery’s Pitt-themed beer” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Adam Bittner, October 19, 2017. http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pitt/2017/10/19/h2p-beer-pitt-trademark-voodoo-brewery-pittsburgh-panthers-homecoming/stories/201710190025
²⁰ H2P (standard character mark) for magnets and label pins owned by the Registrant University of Pittsburgh-Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education (“Pitt”) (U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4014150)
²¹ PITT (in script lettering) for football helmets (U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4960354).
²² PITT (in script lettering) for numerous goods, including shot glasses, drinking glasses, and miniature toy helmets (U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4960171).
²³ http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pitt/2017/06/27/Pitt-colors-change-royal-blue-and-yellow/stories/201706270143 “Will Pitt change its colors back to royal blue and yellow?” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Kevin Stankiewicz, June 27, 2017.
²⁴ http://www.communications.pitt.edu/Graphic-Standards.pdf
²⁵ PITT (in script lettering) for football helmets claims to have a first use in commerce at least as early as 1973 (U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4960354).
²⁶ http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pitt/2017/10/19/h2p-beer-pitt-trademark-voodoo-brewery-pittsburgh-panthers-homecoming/stories/201710190025
²⁷ “Miami Hurricanes’ Turnover Chain becomes a beer” SouthFlorida.com, Talia J. Medina, November 15, 2017. http://www.southflorida.com/restaurants-and-bars/drinking/sf-j-wakefield-turnover-chain-miami-canes-beer-20171115-story.html
²⁸ The University of Miami’s “Visual Identity Manual” https://ucomm.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/tools-and-resources/UMiami_IDguide_March_2015.pdf (Updated March 2015)
²⁹ Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB”) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Certificate of Label Approval (“COLA”) TTB ID: 17320001000412, approved on November 19, 2017. https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicDisplaySearchBasic&ttbid=17320001000412
³⁰ See footnote 27: “The IPA will be brewed in partnership with former Miami Hurricanes linebacker D.J. Williams, who was a member of the 2001-2002 national championship team.”
³¹ “J. Wakefield Brewing to Release Chains New England-Style IPA” Brewbound, Press Release, Dec. 11, 2017. https://www.brewbound.com/news/j-wakefield-brewing-release-chains-ipa
³² “The Iowa Wave through a child’s eyes” USAToday, George Schroeder, November 2, 2017. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/11/02/iowa-wave-through-childs-eyes/826378001/
³³ “Iowa Hawkeyes’ new tradition is more than just a wave” ESPN, Published on Sep 30, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7UqYD_owgY
³⁴ “Iowa City Wave, Backpocket’s newest beer, will benefit the UI Children’s Hospital” Little Village Magazine, Emma McClatchey, November 2, 2017. http://littlevillagemag.com/iowa-city-wave-backpockets-newest-beer-will-benefit-the-ui-childrens-hospital/
³⁵ https://twitter.com/BackpocketBrew/status/932722791710937088
³⁶ See footnote 34. “Overton said he and other Iowa City natives on staff had been meaning to make a beer that pays homage to Hawkeye football. With Iowa City Wave, they not only nabbed a trademark-free title, but a way to both honor and contribute to the growing awareness of children’s hospital patients and their families by Hawk fans.”
³⁷ According to a search of the University’s  searchable website portal, there do not appear to be any breweries listed as licensed: http://portal.uilicensing.com/index.cfm/licensee/search
³⁸ “The Kansas City Royals have named an official craft beer. Will other teams follow?” The Washington Post, Fritz Hahn, March 10, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/03/10/the-kansas-city-royals-have-named-an-official-craft-beer-will-other-teams-follow/ (“The Kansas City Royals have named Boulevard Brewing their official craft beer partner. According to Major League Baseball, it’s the first time a team has had an official craft beer.”)
³⁹ https://www.boulevard.com/partner/royals/
⁴⁰ “Anchor Brewing’s Golden Warriors beer for the Dub Nation” The Mercury News, Jay R. Brooks, March 27, 2017, updated March 30, 2017. https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/27/anchor-brewings-golden-warriors-beer-for-the-dub-nation/
⁴¹ http://www.nba.com/warriors/anchor?mpweb=1009-2132-44620
⁴² “Gordon Biersch’s new San Jose Sharks beer is called ‘Chum’” The Mercury News, Sal Pizarro, September 8, 2016, updated September 9, 2016. https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/08/gordon-bierschs-new-san-jose-sharks-beer-is-called-chum/