British gin maker Bullards has won a naming similarity dispute against Red Bull. The British Intellectual Property Office (IPO) rejected the request by the Austrian fizzer group that Bullards, with around ten employees, should refrain from a number of goods and services, including events and energy drinks and non-alcoholic beverages, due to the risk of confusion.
“Bullards is by no means a logical brand extension of Red Bull,” said official Allan James, according to the British news agency PA.
Bullards representative Russell Evans was happy. Some people would have advised him to comply with the request. “But it just seemed wrong to just give in to the Goliath, so we decided to take a stand and I’m glad we did,” Evans said. “The only question is why do they think they can do such things.” The defense cost him £30,000 (€35,000), Evans said. Red Bull said: “We do not consider it appropriate to comment on such a legal matter.”
Bullards have been around since 1837, Red Bull since 1987
Bullards was founded in 1837 as a beer maker and importer of wine and liquor. In 1963 the company was taken over by the Watneys brewery and the brand was discontinued – until 2015, since then the company has focused on gin. Red Bull was founded in 1987, 150 years after Bullards.
“Even though we don’t make any energy drinks, I didn’t want to give them the right to do that and we don’t,” Evans said. The fact that Red Bull also demanded that Bullards no longer do events is “ridiculous”. Bullards attorney Luke Portnow said: “It pains me that such unnecessarily aggressive – and expensive – enforcement practices continue in this area of law.”
It is legally and financially unfair to have to defend such lawsuits. “The decision confirms the mere fact that the fact that the two marks share an element in common is not a reasonable basis for finding indirect confusion,” Portnow said.
