By Stuart MacDonald
SCOTTISH brewers BrewDog have lost a legal battle with the estate of Elvis Presley over the name of one of their beers.
The beer firm launched their grapefruit and blood orange Elvis Juice IPA in 2015 and they say it has become one of the company’s best-selling products.
However they were contacted by lawyers from The King’s estate who demanded they change the name of the beverage.
In response, James Watt and Martin Dickie, founders of BrewDog, changed their names by deed poll to Elvis in a bid to prove the name was not exclusive.
They insisted that the Elvis Juice IPA had no connection to the singer and suggested that there ought to be “a little less conversation and more time enjoying our beer”.
Although Elvis Presley died in 1977, his name and likeness have been trademarked by Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), which earns millions every year through a merchandising licensing programme. They objected after BrewDog applied to register the names ‘Elvis Juice’ and ‘Brewdog Elvis Juice’ as trademarks. Now the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), who rule on trademark disputes, has found in favour of the Elvis estate.
In a written ruling, trademark hearing officer Oliver Morris said: “Put simply, and notwithstanding that Mr Presley died nearly 40 years ago, he was/is such an iconic figure, that I would be very surprised if many people, including those at the younger end of the average consumer age spectrum, had not heard of him. There may be some exceptions, but this is likely to be few and far between.”
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