Are Redbull Being A Bit Precious Here?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-23697138
I don't see how they can block all that sounds like RedBull, redwell?? I don't see how they can stop that. What about BedRule could they stop that?

[naomi24]

Yes, they are.

[Gromit]

The name is different and the branding is different. Don't know when Redwood Street in Norwich came into being, but I would guess it was before Red Bull became a brand. If anything, the branding of yhe Pale one is very similar to Boddington's.
I wouldn't think this would stand up in court.

As a side note, a Micro Brewery that makes mainly Lager is a wasted opportunity.

[Gromit]

The Beatles' Apple record label sued Apple Computers.

Would anyone seriously have got them mixed up? Would anyone assume that iTunes was owned by the Beatles?

The iPhone maker eventually paid $500million to McCartney and Co.

[Fitzer]

Red Bull have stopped action on the basis that the brewery will not make soft drinks!
Gromit, nothing wrong with well made lager and I say that as a CAMRA member of 20 years standing (and holding on to the floor) who is off to GBBF this afternoon :-)

[FredPuli43]

The Apple case dragged on for years. A notorious example also was Budweiser. There was a Czech brewery called that. The immigrants who started the American Budweiser simply took the name, to give their much inferior product a good image. Of course, inevitably, the American corporation sued the genuine Budweiser to stop them using the name which the American founders had misappropriated, and Czech Budweiser had to marketed as Budvar.

Not surprise by the Red Bull case settling. Red Bull have got their message out, and that's all that matters to them

[jomifl]

Perhaps they should change their name to 'Redpoll', a perfectly respectable British bird which pre-exists 'red bull' by a century or 2.

[FredPuli43]

The rule is that perfectly ordinary English words cannot be protected. So Redpoll would not be. You'd have to work extremely hard to persuade a judge that the word had suddenly acquired the status of being understood only as referring to your product! That's what made Apple so interesting. There the argument had to be more subtle. It involved pleading that 'apple' was normal but that, in the instant case, a company was calling itself Apple Corps or the like.

[FredPuli43]

On that, Easy Jet were forever suing people for using Easy in their title. Nearly all cases were thrown out because the company could not be allowed to claim that 'easy' was any more than an ordinary word. It is just as though I called my business 'Perfect Cleaning'. Everyone who had 'perfect' or 'cleaning' in their business title would be able to sue me and each other!

[sp1814]

Own goal for Redbull here. It's obvious that Redwell is not trying to pass itself off as anything but Redwell.

Very much different to this trader:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=harolds+sued+by+harrods&source=lnms&;tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=EaUMUqbLCuij0QWChoD4Bw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=931#facrc=_&;imgrc=O9MNXaQsM7WgFM%3A%3BzaTSZ48vHBaN-M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.davecourtney.com%252Fimages%252Farticles%252Ffishvfayed%252Fharolds01.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.davecourtney.com%252Farticles%252Ffish_v_harrods%252F%3B555%3B306

[Gromit]

Fitzer

http://www.gbbf.org.uk/?s=Lager&;submit=Go

There are plenty of excellent Continental Beers. British Lager is not Synonomous with a pleasurable drinking experience. I have tasted plenty of Cask real Lagers and they are mostly very poor. I cannot think of one decent one.

[Fitzer]

Indeed Gromit, but just because they're a micro that doesn't mean they have to brew a cask lager, they could be doing something interesting in a European style :-)

[bibblebub]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/red-bull-backs-down-over-name-dispute-with-redwell-brewery-8764768.html

Red Bull have now backed down. It took them long enough to realise what complete prats the threat made them look.