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DUI (Not TM) Lawyers Served Suit for Seeming Straight-Up Repurpose of Full Sail's "Session" Mark

Not just other beer or alc bev marketers can overstep, infringe on trademarks held by brewers. Lawyers can too. That's exactly what folks at Full Sail allege Atlanta-based firm The Sessions Law Firm, LLC has done in recently filed suit in Portland, Oreg US District Court. And it could be one of the more cut-and-dry infringement suits we've seen in a while. Evidence laid out in suit shows almost identical use of Full Sail's shield-shaped Session logo (with addition of an "s" and replacement of "PREMIUM LAGER" with "LAW") by Sessions Law Firm "on a paper bag designed and distributed for the express purpose of holding a can or bottle of beer," according to filing. The bags, shown holding a 12 oz can in evidence, use the same shape "shield" and the same font in black-and-white; digital uses of the logo shown in suit use same red color-scheme as Full Sail's Session line. The use of the mark in conjunction with DUI-defense lawyers deemed "direct and malicious" by Full Sail, as well as "intentional and unjustified interference" with its biz. By "marketing services on the Internet using counterfeit versions" of the Session logo, Sessions Law has potential to confuse customers and has already led "at least one" of Full Sail's "contractual business partners" to question the use. Full Sail seeks damages, attorney's fees in request for jury trial, but it may not get that far. On its surface, the firm's use of the mark is so strikingly similar that it seems like a quick lifting of Full Sail's logo and the mark currently not used on firm's website. Settlements common in trademark issues, so discussion in this case could be to determine how much harm the firm's use of the mark did rather than anything else.  

Publishing Info

  • Newsletter: Craft Brew News
  • Published: 07/10/2014
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue #: 50