AB/InBev, Jealous Protectors Of Trademark, Pretty Blatantly Committing Trademark Infringement

AB/InBev, Jealous Protectors Of Trademark, Pretty Blatantly Committing Trademark Infringement

5 years ago
Anonymous $fWzGa1uP8i

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190411/09244141981/ab-inbev-jealous-protectors-trademark-pretty-blatantly-committing-trademark-infringement.shtml

Even if you haven't read through our previous stories about giant beer brewer AB/InBev being very much into protecting its intellectual property to the extreme, you probably would have guessed that to be the case as a matter of instinct. With a large legal war chest and an equally large legal team, the company has had no problem with gobbling up questionable trademarks and then wielding them as a weapon against even the smallest of non-competitors. With such a strict view on its own IP rights and such an expansive view on trademark law, you would think that InBev would be super into making sure it's own actions fell well within the bounds of trademark law.

You'd be wrong. Patagonia, the rather well known clothier, has sued InBev over how it's used a trademark it received in 2012 for "Patagonia". While you're sure to be wondering how there could be customer confusion, as the apparel and beer markets are quite different, the details in this case definitely matter. We can start with what InBev did in the early days of holding the trademark, which mounts to essentially: not a thing.