(Courtesy Stone Brewing)

Stone Brewing’s suit against Molson Coors is finally headed to court.  It’s been four years and things could get ugly.

Here’s the deal…

On February 12, 2018 announced that it was filing a lawsuit against one of the world’s largest beer conglomerates, MillerCoors, (now Molson Coors).

The suit alleged that MillerCoors is trying to rebrand its Colorado Rockies-themed “Keystone” beer as “STONE.”  The craft beer pioneer felt that it has no choice but to combat MillerCoors’ aggressive marketing moves, which abandon Keystone’s own heritage with deliberately confusing rebranding

“Keystone’s rebranding is no accident,” said Dominic Engels, Stone Brewing’s CEO who left the company in 2020.

 “MillerCoors tried to register our name years ago and was rejected.  Now its marketing team is making 30-pack boxes stacked high with nothing but the word ‘STONE’ visible. Same for Keystone’s social media, which almost uniformly has dropped the ‘Key.’ We will not stand for this kind of overtly and aggressively deceptive advertising. Frankly, MillerCoors should be ashamed.”

Stone’s Greg Koch jumps ugly)

MillerCoors representative Marty Maloney then responded to Stone’s lawsuit with a statement to the Business Insider…

“This lawsuit is a clever publicity stunt with a multi-camera, tightly-scripted video featuring Stone’s founder Greg Koch.

Since Keystone’s debut in 1989, prior to the founding of Stone Brewing in 1996, our consumers have commonly used ‘Stone’ to refer to the Keystone brand and we will let the facts speak for themselves in the legal process.

On March 30, 2020 the federal court overseeing Stone Brewing’s trademark dispute rejected defendant MillerCoors/Keystone’s motion for summary judgment (a judgment by the court for one party and against another without a trial).

‘In a 41-page order dated March 27 and made available Monday, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez found it was a “close call” in deciding whether to grant Stone Brewing summary judgment on its trademark infringement claim against the Keystone beer maker” according to Courthouse News Service. “He ultimately found it was a decision for a jury.

“Evaluating all the factors and the evidence provided by the parties, the court cannot find plaintiff has, as a matter of law, demonstrated a likelihood of consumer confusion, although it is a close call,” Benitez wrote.

After multiple delays, the trial, which one US District judge in San Diego called “one of the most contentious cases I’ve ever experienced.” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, kicked off on March 7 and is expected to last three weeks.

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(All image credits: Stone Brewing)