MillerCoors Responds to Blue Moon Lawsuit

by Ryan Hudak on Aug 4, 2015 in Beer

A few weeks ago, I told you about the boner who sued MillerCoors because he thought he was drinking craft beer when he bought his cases of Blue Moon. Well, MillerCoors finally had their law firm release a statement, and I’ve got to say, as much as I don’t want to support them, they’re pretty much 100% correct. And the guy is still an idiot.

MC picked apart the guy’s arguments, starting with the fact that their name doesn’t appear on any of the Blue Moon packaging. And that’s because, legally, it doesn’t have to. Blue Moon Brewing Company is a registered trade name for MillerCoors, so they can use that name without using their own. The same way The Kellogg Company doesn’t have to put its name on any Kashi boxes, or Frito-Lay doesn’t have to put its name on Stacy’s Pita Chips, or PepsiCo doesn’t have to put its name on Naked Juice. It’s just the way the world works, and MC is no different than any other company. If you think something you love may be owned by an evil conglomerate, do some digging and find out because it probably is. With the internet and the prevalence of information today, ignorance is no excuse.

As for the term “artfully crafted”—not that it necessarily has anything at all to do with “craft beer,” as I mentioned before—MillerCoors points out the obvious, that “craft beer” is not a defined or federally enforced term in any way. The Brewer’s Association has defined “American Craft Brewery,” but they have no rulemaking authority, and no one has to pay attention to anything they say. It’s much like Jeep “trail rating” something—the trail rating was made up by Jeep and only applies to their cars. BA’s definition of craft is arbitrary, anyway, as they keep changing it to fit in the breweries they need to fit in.

As much as I hate to side with the macros, MC is pretty well in the right here. But as bad as I feel trying to defend MillerCoors, it’s all made a bit easier by the fact that at least they aren’t Budweiser.

Photo via Blue Moon Brewing Company


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