Studio behind Breaking Bad sues craft brewer over Breaking Bud beer
These are tricky times for craft breweries. The days when
your story might have been unique but now everyone and their mother runs a
local craft brewery with a line of beverages with wacky names. There’s also a
decent chance that the glory days are already on their way out and your effect
on a neighborhood’s revitalization isn’t quite what you’re hoping it will be.
So in the words of Breaking Bad’s Walter White, maybe your
best course would be to tread lightly when it comes to creating unnecessary
problems for yourself.
For example, take the hot mess that Auburn , California
“Simply put, rather than investing the time, effort and
resources necessary to establish their own reputation and identity, Defendants
have instead opted to hijack the famous brand identity associated with SPT and
its BREAKING BAD show for Defendants’ own intended benefit,” writes attorney
Jean-Paul Jassy in the complaint. “Defendants’ unauthorized use of SPT’s
trademarks and design elements threatens to erode the value of SPT’s BREAKING BAD
Marks by undermining SPT’s continuing ability to attract licensees for such
marks and secure compensation for the right to associate one’s products with
the BREAKING BAD show.”
One look at the beer in question and it’s clear to
understand why Sony is so pissed. At first glance, you’d probably just assume
that Knee Deep had officially licensed the Breaking Bad logo and just tweaked
it for their name. The addition of their mascot in what clearly looks like the
meth-making suit that Walter wore in the lab solidifies the not-so-subtle
infringement.
It’s interesting that the suit was even filed in the first
place as these kinds of issues usually get resolved with a sternly worded
letter or phone call. As The Takeout surmises, it sounds like Sony tried that and
Knee Deep decided to call their bluff, which was not actually a bluff.
“Although [Sony] has
sought to halt Knee Deep’s infringing conduct, Knee Deep has refused to cease
using marks and indicia exclusively associated with… Breaking Bad.”
It’s also not the first time Sony has gotten all legal about
defending their Breaking Bad copyrights. Albuquerque
company Great Face and Body marketed “Bathing Bad” bath salts until they were
served with a cease and desist.
The weirdest part of all this is that it would have been
pretty easy for Knee Deep to create a beer label “influenced” by Breaking Bad
without making it an implicit logo ripoff. Pipeworks’ Hey Careful Man There’s A
Beverage Here white Russian imperial stout and Stillwater’s Hopvine Bling
Berliner weisse are two great examples of beers that are obviously referencing
specific pop culture entities (The Big Lebowski and Hotline Bling,
respectively) but can also claim to be distinct enough that lawyers won’t get
involved.
For their part, Knee Deep has responded on their Instagram
feed.
kneedeepbrewingcoFrom our CEO, regarding our friends at
Sony:
I was surprised by the unexpected lawsuit filed against us
by Sony yesterday, especially after they originally contacted us many years ago
touting their appreciation of our Breaking Bud beer that made gentle fun of
their show. Shortly after Breaking Bud was introduced, in early 2015, I
actually received an email from a Sony representative that said, “It seems the
Knee Deep team are big fans of Breaking Bad and we really appreciate the call
out to our very popular show.” Soon thereafter I spoke with the Sony
representative and we discussed the potential benefits of a formal partnership
between Knee Deep and Sony but we ultimately decided not to pursue such a
partnership because, among other things, our label has always been meant as a
joke and not something seriously connected to the show. At no point, during
those discussions, did Sony ever threaten to sue Knee Deep over the name of the
beer. I’ve always been under the impression that Sony had no issue with our
Breaking Bud beer since, after all, the Sony rep is the one who told me he
“appreciate(ed) the call out to our very popular show” which is hardly what one
would expect from someone who thinks they can sue you for the “call out” if you
don’t pay them a licensing fee, which is what I gather they now want from us.
Breaking Bud is one of our more successful beers, and I think our customers
appreciate that the quirky label is a joke. No one has ever thought the joke
meant we were endorsed by Breaking Bad. We are a small brewery and I don’t
appreciate the distraction, not to mention the expense of having to deal with
something that should have been addressed 3 years ago if Sony really had an
issue with it.
At the end of the day, the quality of the beer is what has
made Breaking Bud popular and we should all be able to take a joke.
It sounds like they’re misunderstanding the issue by
assuming Sony has a problem with the “joke” and not with the whole “using
copyrighted trademarks to make money without giving it to the people who own
the trademark” thing. They’ll probably want to get a lawyer of their own to
help figure that out.
by Sean Keeley
Original Article
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