A trade mark infringement dispute between Scottish beer company BrewDog and a family-run pub in Birmingham has fizzled out, after the well-known craft beer specialist decided to back down.
Joshua and Sallie McFadyen, the team behind the former Lone Wolf pub in Birmingham, had previously received email correspondence from BrewDog’s legal team asking them to promptly change the name of their establishment, or face legal action, as the brewer had recently launched a trademarked vodka brand bearing the same name.
Speaking to The Guardian at the time, Sallie McFayden said: “We had an email one day from their solicitors – and that was the first we knew of it – saying they had a trademarked spirit coming out.
“All our money has gone into refurbishing this place and getting it open and we don’t have the same money as they have. We were told we might have to incur their legal costs so we were panic-stricken,” she added.
The brother-and-sister told reporters that they had first decided on the name Lone Wolf for their pub in 2015, before BrewDog had begun promoting its new vodka brand.
They added that their reasons behind the name were “quite personal” – the duo chose it because they had both worked for major pub companies in the past, but had recently decided to go it alone.
However, despite their upset, the brother-and-sister promptly rebranded their pub The Wolf to avoid further complications. The duo advertised the change on social networking site Twitter.
Shortly afterwards, BrewDog experienced an angry backlash online and in the media, with some accusing the self-proclaimed “punk” brewing company of acting like “just another multinational corporate machine”.
The Scottish beer manufacturer felt that the claims contradicted its “punk” brand and image. It has since withdrew its legal challenge, and CEO and founder James Watt has publicly announced that the company is happy for the Birmingham pub to reinstate the Lone Wolf name.
However, the McFayden’s have said that they have no plans to rebrand their pub for a second time.