Fitger's Brewery Wins Preliminary Injunction to Protect Trademark
The District Court of Minnesota granted a preliminary injunction based on trademark infringement and false advertising in Fitger's On-The-Lake, LLC v. The Fitger Company, LLC, 2007 WL 4531502 (D. Minn. 12/19/07).
Fitger's has operated a brewery in Minnesota since the 1880's, and it holds a number of trademarks that have now become famous. The current location is a full resort spa complete with a hotel, restaurants and ample shopping. The defendant Douglas Donnelly claims he is related to August Fitger, the original brewmaster for Fitger's. Donnelly believes this entitles him to set up businesses using Fitger's trademarks and making false statements that his companies are the "official Fitger beer" operated "since 1881." He even filed fraudulent trademark applications with the USPTO.
Despite Donnelly's novel argument, ancestry cannot confer trademark rights. The court granted the preliminary injunction both on grounds of trademark infringement and false advertising.
