Brew Dog Hop Rocker - 25% off

[Daniel Parker]

Get it while you can.. It looks like we are not selling it after next Thursday.. Selling below cost.

http://www.beerstore.co.nz/detail.lasso?BeerID=1680

If you want to know why.. click this link (2.2Mb PDF):
http://www.beerstore.co.nz/docs/lion.pdf

Oh.. and if you happen to be a trademark lawyer.. please contact me.

Regards
Daniel
The Beer Store

[Geoff Griggs]

Summer Ale - Summer Ale
Hop Rocker - Hop Rocker

... anyone see the similarity?

[Doublehoppy]

My thoughts exactly, hypocrites.

I was thinking of avoiding all Lion products in protest - then I remembered I already am!

[nzbrewer]

Hop Smacker - Hop Rocker (this is very confusing)

[denimglen]

Fuck why don't LN just go outlaw all the beers with 'Hop' in their name while they're at it.

Absolutely pathetic.

It's not even like these were propped up in the supermarket fridge right next to each other - in that sense it may be confusing, but even then, anyone with half a brain would go 'Oh, Hop Rocker has new packaging. Oh no, it's a different beer'.

Like said before, this pretty much proves that LN know their product is shit, and that if another beer sits next to it with the same name the consumer will try the other one and switch to the other, probably better, beer. If they were confident in their product they wouldn't be this worried about such a small thing.

[BeerNZ]

What makes this worse for me is that Daniel (Beerstore) wasn't/isn't even the importer/distributor. Have LN not done their homework? Beerstore = seller not importer. Would they send this letter to every New World or Liquorland also if they stocked it...???

[James P]

I think it comes down to Beerstore becoming popular, where as Lion is not... It's like being at school again and having the cool kids find out that some of the nerds are getting popular, so to stop it happening they dunk their heads in the toilet that is litigation!

[Soren]

does anyone know when Brew Dog first made their hop rocker? if it was before lion did in 2006 that might be grounds for a counter law suit against lion... mmmmmmm, that would be so sweet!:)

[Geoff Griggs]

This from Wikipedia...

"BrewDog was founded in 2006 by friends James Watt and Martin Dickie. The brewery at the Kessock Industrial Estate in Fraserburgh produced its first brew in April 2007. It is Scotland's largest independently owned brewery producing about 120,000 bottles per month for export all over the world."

Not good news.

[JoKing]

It is worse when you read the striking similarities between what Brew Dog has on its webiste when they describe Hop Rocker...

"Oblivious to accountant’s interfering and conventional corporate wisdom we do not cut corners like other Lager producers and use malt substitutes like corn and rice to keep our costs down."

And Mac's Hop Rocker that had very similar comments about their accountants on the label of the bottles.

[Stu McKinlay]

Daniel

I see that you have changed the "title" of the beer to Rock Hopper. Why not continue to do this, while also placing a censored banner over the beer label, and a note in the text saying this beer has had its name changed (with a link to that pdf). You could also label over the bottles that get shipped out if need be.

I do see Lion's point to a degree, and believe that it is a different issue from the summer ale debate.... HOWEVER the suited ones have blown the thing out of proportions and gone about it in totally the wrong manner. Why not a phone call and a discussion about how the confusion issue could be worked around.

The first thing I'd want to do if someone named a beer the same as any Yeastie Boys beers would be to taste it. Then, if it tasted really good, I'd rave about it on here!

Good luck.

Cheers
Stu

[Soren]

Speaking of trademarks, when I was in Europe for Christmas I found this beer. Brewed in Belgium. I was rather shocked they could do this but after closer investigation I think they are brewing under license from the Mussel Inn. It didnt really taste like a real Captain Cooker though, the manuka flavours were a lot weaker.

[Daniel Parker]

It happens again..

This time with this product (Now Renamed):
http://www.beerstore.co.nz/detail.lasso?BeerID=1962

And this time.. its DB.. Can anyone guess which word they have a trademark on? (Hint: it is a style of beer that also contains lemonade, and is German for Cyclist)