From New Belgium:
The summary
Prior to releasing our newest year round beer, Slow Ride Session IPA, New Belgium Brewing conducted an exhaustive trademark search to ensure that the name was available. We then filed to register the trademark in May 2014, which was granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office without opposition.
We later learned that Oasis Texas Brewing Company in Austin, Texas, was producing a beer by the same name. We proactively reached out to Oasis, suggesting a number of possible solutions that would allow both brands to exist in the market, but Oasis was not open to working with New Belgium toward a productive solution.
Five months after we filed to register the Slow Ride name, Oasis filed for trademark. While we would have preferred to resolve this amicably with Oasis, they are unwilling to work with us and have threatened New Belgium with a lawsuit, thereby compelling us to seek clarification from the court.
At this time we are only seeking geographical clarification as to our secured trademark. To avoid further conflict, we will release “Slow Ride Session IPA” as “New Belgium Session IPA” in Texas until this issue is resolved.
We're making the complaint and supporting exhibits, all filed in court, available for download:
New Belgium v Oasis complaint PDF (11 MB)
New Belgium v Oasis complaint ZIP (9 MB)
The background of New Belgium Slow Ride Session IPA
Earlier this year New Belgium launched a new year-round release, Slow Ride Session IPA. The name for Slow Ride Session IPA is inspired by the Slow Ride bike “race” at Tour de Fat, a philanthropic event we’ve been doing for more than 15 years (like this one in Seattle in 2010 or this one in Austin in 2008). The “race” itself celebrates the idea of slowing down and taking it easy (last rider across the line wins), which we think well represents the idea of a Session IPA. This is a real and authentic story to our brewery and culture.
Once we landed on Slow Ride as a name, we conducted an exhaustive trademark search to ensure that the name was available. After thoroughly investigating the availability of the Slow Ride trademark, New Belgium filed for a federal registration of the mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“US PTO”). After publication of the mark and without opposition, the US PTO granted New Belgium the registration for Slow Ride.
Oasis Texas Brewing Company in Austin is currently brewing a pale ale called Slow Ride. The brewery is new, and started production in 2014. New Belgium did not know about Oasis Texas Brewing’s pale ale when we selected the name and filed to register the Slow Ride mark with the US PTO in May 2014.
When we learned of the existence of Oasis Texas Brewing and its new beer, we proactively reached out to them to see if we could resolve the issue. We suggested a number of possible resolutions. Unfortunately, Oasis Texas Brewing was not amenable to working with New Belgium to find a productive solution.
Although Oasis did not file to register its intellectual property until more than five months after New Belgium, they now claim exclusive nationwide rights in the mark SLOW RIDE. Because the parties were unable to informally resolve the matter, New Belgium has filed a claim in Federal District Court requesting a declaratory order from the Court that sorts out the rights of the parties. While this claim is pending, we have determined not to offer our new Session IPA under the name Slow Ride within the State of Texas. Instead our new beer will be offered in Texas as New Belgium Session IPA, with only a minor modification to our label to remove any reference to Slow Ride. Of course, it will be the same great liquid offered across the entirety of our current distribution footprint.
The reality is that this situation is becoming more commonplace with the proliferation of breweries and brands. We operated with the best intentions and did full due diligence in regards to the name Slow Ride. We continue to hope to achieve an agreement suitable to all parties or otherwise resolve the matter amicably, and we certainly wish Oasis Texas Brewing Company every success.
FAQs
Where did the name Slow Ride come from?
The Slow Ride is an event at our Tour de Fat that we’ve been doing for many years. The idea is to ride as slowly as possible without falling and the person who finishes last wins. It’s a great metaphor for the rewards of slowing down and enjoying the finer things in life, and we felt that suited a Session IPA perfectly.
How does New Belgium make sure it has rights to a name?
After we land on a possible name, we typically contact our outside counsel and initiate an exhaustive trademark search. They search for existing trademark registrations, pending applications, and even abandoned applications. Additionally they look at common law usage. The search reflects an in-depth analysis and seeks to allow a complete understanding of the proposed name’s availability. In this case, as a result of the search, New Belgium was comfortable and confident of its right to use the term SLOW RIDE, a conclusion that was later validated by the U.S. PTO when it granted New Belgium a federal registration for the mark and exclusive nationwide rights.
You guys are a large brewery that has been in the industry for over 20 years; how does someone like Oasis compete with you for Intellectual Property?
With close to 3,000 breweries in the country, these situations are becoming commonplace. It doesn’t take a great deal of money to run a check on trademarked names and to file to register your intellectual property. That lets other brewers know they need to move on down their list of options. If the name comes up clean and a brewery starts developing that brand, beer and message, the stakes get higher for all parties. Best practice is to conduct due diligence and register the name – every brewery should be thinking along those lines or we will continually run into this issue.
What steps did you take to resolve the matter with Oasis Texas Brewing Company before filing the complaint?
We reached out to the folks at Oasis Texas Brewing on numerous occasions to see if we could resolve the issue. We suggested a number of possible solutions. We also met with the principals of Oasis Texas Brewing at their brewery in Austin in an effort to resolve the matter, but left the meeting at an impasse. New Belgium continues to desire an amicable resolution to this matter, but unfortunately we had no choice but to ask a court to intervene given Oasis Texas Brewing’s continual threats of suit.
Why is a large brewery like New Belgium bringing a lawsuit against Oasis Texas Brewing Company, a recent entrant to the craft scene?
We’ve spent a lot of time, money and energy trying to resolve the matter informally, and we felt that this action was the best way to definitively resolve our dispute. New Belgium is not asking the court to order Oasis to take any action or pay New Belgium damages. Rather, we are simply asking the Court to let both parties know the extent of their rights in the Slow Ride mark and to finally determine the geographic areas, if any, where each party is exclusively entitled to distribute its Slow Ride branded beer.
An here’s Oasis Brewing’s take on the situation:
STOLEN RIDE
Oasis, Texas Brewing Company (www.OTXBC.com) is a rapidly growing craft brewery located in the Texas Hill Country. Our brewery team is led by head brewer and partner Spencer Tielkemeier. He and his team were honored to have recently won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival, the nation’s most prestigious beer competition, for their English-style bitter: London Homesick Ale. Called “perfection” in a recent review by Brewer’s Association President, Charlie Papazian, the OTXBC team has relished bringing an old-world style to the forefront of American craft brewing.
Our brewery was recently named Best New Brewery in Austin and in Texas by Austin Beer Guide and RateBeer.com, honors for which we are sincerely thrilled and extremely grateful.
An already great first year was made even better, as OTXBC just won Best New Beer in Austin 2014 for our Slow Ride Pale Ale by the editorial staff of the Austin Beer Guide. We are very proud of this beer and are excited to be distributing throughout Texas at major retailers such as: HEB, Whole Foods, Kroger, and Specs, as well as craft draught houses and fine restaurants. As so many Texas breweries have before us, we fully expect to continue this distribution into other states as our brands continue to grow.
As you may have heard, we’re currently being sued by New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colorado over the use of OUR name Slow Ride. While New Belgium is certainly large and well-respected in our industry, we believe that we’re the rightful owners of the name Slow Ride. Simply put, we started selling our Slow Ride before, we believe, they had any intention of making a product under the same title. Our product hit the market in mid-May, prior to their application for a trademark. Their assertion that brewing activities didn’t begin until August is simply untrue.
They have attempted to frighten us with threats of legal action and intimidate us into accepting a joint-use agreement – overtures which we politely dismissed as bullying and declined. It soon became apparent that a fair and amicable solution was not in their interest. The notion that New Belgium tried to solve the issue, “amicably, brewer to brewer,” is simply untrue as our every communication with NB devolved into hostility.
Now a $200MM company is suing us.
We plan to keep making authentic and original craft beers, INCLUDING Slow Ride, as is our passion. However, we now find ourselves having to spend large amounts of money on legal fees to protect what we believe to be rightfully and obviously ours — money that should be put towards the growth and support of a small, growing business.
We believe our peers will see we are firmly in the right. This style of strong-arm intimidation should not exist in an industry whose lifeblood is communal support and collaboration. We hope that the industry as a whole will take notice of these aggressive tactics and think twice about supporting brands that employ them. Craft brewing is about community. It’s a shame to see a company who claims to be a part of that act with such hypocrisy.
Restpectfully,
Max Schleder
General Manager
Oasis, Texas Brewing Co.
max@otxbc.com
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