Hard rock band Guns N’ Roses has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective’s Oskar Blues Brewery.
The case was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.
The lawsuit claims the Longmont-based brewery has been selling a craft ale and a variety of merchandise including hats, t-shirts, pint glasses, stickers, buttons and bandannas under the name Guns ‘N’ Rosé since 2018. The Los Angeles band claims to have registered the Guns N’ Roses name for a broad range of goods and services in the 1990s. The lawsuit asserts that Oskar Blues’ use of the moniker Guns ‘N’ Rosé is damaging to the band’s “trademarks, business reputation and goodwill.”
The band Guns N’ Roses, also referred to GNR in filing documents, “has also successfully offered to sell and sold a variety of “Guns N’ Roses-branded products to consumers. This includes, but is not limited (to), clothing and related accessories such as t-shirts, hats, patches, stickers, buttons, and bandannas — an item uniquely associated with GNR and their co-founder and lead singer Axl Rose, who has famously worn bandannas for decades. This also includes items used for and related to the imbibing of alcohol including wine glasses, pint glasses, beer “koozies” (sleeves used to keep beer cans cold), and shot glasses,” according to the filing by the band’s lead attorney Jill M. Pietrini of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
The band also is claiming unspecified damages, compensation and legal costs.
The band’s representative met the brewery’s CEO in December to sort out the matter, but the latter rejected the band’s claim, according to the court documents.
An exchange of letters followed between the representatives of the band and the brewery without any resolution.
A Jan. 22 letter from Oskar Blues’ counsel Katie Bukrinsky, an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery, stated, “Our client’s use of GUNS ‘N’ ROSÉ for beer does not infringe GNR’s marks. GNR does not own a trademark registration for GUNS N’ ROSES for beer or any alcohol beverages. GNR has not made any use of the mark GUNS N’ ROSES in connection with alcohol beverages. It thus has no rights to the mark in connection with beer or other alcohol beverages.”
A March 26 letter from Bukrinsky offered to help resolve the issue to avoid costly litigation by agreeing to withdraw the brewery’s application to register the name Guns N Rosé with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, permanently cease all sales and marketing of GUNS N ROSÉ beer, clothing, and other products on or before March 31, 2020, and not to use any marks incorporating the term GUNS N ROSÉ or GUNS N ROSES in the future.
The brewery’s application for registration of the name was rejected by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on Tuesday after the band’s sustained opposition. The brewery on May 1 had filed for an express abandonment of its application.
A call to Oskar Blues, and emails to attorneys of both the parties for comment were not immediately returned.
