UK beer manufacturer BrewDog is embroiled in yet another trade mark infringement dispute over the name of an independent British pub, according to reports.
This time around, the Scottish Brewer is threatening to take legal action against a Leeds-based pub called Draft Punk, on grounds that BrewDog owns the ‘punk’ trade mark in relation to all UK beer products.
In a statement, a BrewDog spokesperson has said: “Any company, anywhere in the world, is always going to protect the trade mark of its flagship product.
“The other party tried to register Draft Punk as a trade mark, but we own the ‘Punk’ trade mark for beer, so naturally we objected as that is one of our trade marks.
“If we did not object they could have registered ‘Punk’ and sold it to Ab-InBev the next day, and then we could have been driven out of business,” it said.
The news comes just days after the Scottish brewer backed down from a separate, unrelated dispute over the name of an independent pub in Birmingham formerly known as Lone Wolf.
In this instance, BrewDog’s legal team issued an apology to the Birmingham venue after forcing it to change its name.
The change of heart followed a backlash against BrewDog which arose on social media, alongside a damning Guardian report which described the company of acting like “just another multinational corporate machine”.
Defending BrewDog’s actions in relation to both cases, a spokesperson said: “People criticising us for defending our trade mark is like people criticising us for not letting someone walk into our offices and steal our computers.
“If you do not protect your trade marks then you risk forfeiting them entirely”.
Reports suggest that music promoter Tony Green, the entrepreneur behind the Draft Punk bar in Leeds, has since given up on his plans to open the bar, despite spending around £4,000 on promotion of the venue ahead of its planned opening night.