Sometimes Discretion is the Better Part of Valor When Confronted by a Trademark Bully

Believe it or not, if you want to try to turn water into wine, you may need to hire an attorney and not that "other guy." Recently, a new expensive bottled water ("Beverly Hills 90H20") caused a stir when it marketed its water as the "Champagne of waters."  And, at $ 5 a bottle or more in specialty retailers, gourmet markets, and restaurants, it seems as if such a claim was appropriate.  Needless to say, Champagne producers did not appreciate the reference.  The organization that represents growers and marketers of Champagne sent the Beverly Hills company a cease and desist letter asking it to drop references to Champagne in its marketing.  

According to the Beverly Hills water company ("Beverly Hills Drink, Co."), it enlisted the help of artisans to create a water that resembled wine in "bringing the notes out" of meals.  The water's recipe includes spring water and various minerals that occur naturally in water.  

The advocates for sparkling wine from the Champagne region are notoriously aggressive in protecting the Champagne name (word) and trademark--most notably, they denied those who make sparkling wine in other regions from using the "Champagne" nomenclature.  They have also fought to deny fashion houses, cigarette makers, soda makers, etc. from using the word on their products. If you follow this blog or understand trademark law even a little bit, you will understand that these others most likely would have a right to use the word "Champagne" on their products.  

These types of trademark bullies often are able to obliterate particular words from the marketing dictionary because they have the money and the stable of attorneys to bury any small business--they also have the attorneys and resources to cost the bigger business quite a bit.  This is a sad state of affairs, but sometimes it is about who has the resources and not who is legally correct.  Not surprisingly, Beverly Hills Drink, Co. decided that their resources were better spent on marketing and their product and not fighting the Champagne nazis . . . err, advocates.   

 

The lesson is that it is a good idea to try and figure out who these uber-aggressive trademark enforcers are before you spend the time and money on an ad campaign or trademark (I counseled a small company against fighting "Iron Man" even though that company was using the name descriptively and not in a trademark sense.  "Iron Man" was another brand which fought everyone and anyone using these words in any context).  While, as a youth, I subscribed to the theory that you should stand up to a bully, in the instance of standing up to these trademark bullies it is usually much easier and less costly to get off of their playground (radar).