BATTLE OF BREWERS ON “KEY” BRANDING
Craft brewer Stone sues for infringement amid marketing efforts to downplay “Key”
California craft brewery Stone Brewing Co. has filed a lawsuit against MillerCoors over its marketing efforts to deemphasize the “Key” in Keystone Light.
Stone Brewing Co., one of the country’s largest craft brewers, has sued Denverbased MillerCoors for infringing on a brand it built over more than two decades, the California company said Monday.
Stone claims the giant brewer crossed the line in its marketing efforts for Keystone Light beer by increasingly emphasizing Stone in the name while de-emphasizing Key.
“Our message to you, MillerCoors, is very simple. You can end all of this here and now. Put the Key back in Keystone. Stop using Stone as a stand-alone word,” Stone Brewing founder and chairman Greg Koch pleaded in a video announcing the lawsuit.
Koch, holding up a can of Keystone Light beer with STONE in large letters but the KEY above under his fingers, said Stone Brewing has worked hard to build the brand and isn’t about to let MillerCoors appropriate it or dilute it.
“When it comes to stone as a stand-alone word in the world of beer, it is ours,” he said.
Marty Maloney, media relations manager for MillerCoors, dismissed the lawsuit as a publicity stunt.
“Since Keystone’s debut in 1989, prior to the founding of Stone Brewing in 1996, our consumers have commonly used ‘Stone’ to refer to the Keystone brand and we will let the facts speak for themselves in the legal process,” Maloney said in an email.
As some of the nation’s larger microbrewers have sold to large corporations, Stone Brewing, based in Escondido, Calif., has remained independent and Koch has gained a reputation for taking on “big beer.”
The complaint, filed Monday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleges MillerCoors violated state and federal rules on unfair competition and trademark infringement. The company also argues the reputation it has built for producing fresh, high-quality craft beers could be harmed.
“By deliberately creating confusion in the marketplace, MillerCoors is threatening not only our legacy, but the ability for beer drinkers everywhere to make informed purchasing decisions,” Koch said.