A local brewery is making another push on social media to "free the moose" as it fights a legal battle brought on by a different brewery in Canada.
Canadian company Moosehead Breweries Ltd. launched a lawsuit against the Adirondack Pub & Brewery in Lake George last spring. Moosehead, which prints its name on its beer bottles, is claiming Adirondack's moose-branded "Moose Wizz" root beer infringes on its copyright.
Both products feature a label with a moose looking to its left with a red banner underneath. Moosehead's animal is portrayed in a more photo-realistic illustration, Adirondack's moose is more colorful and cartoonish.
Adirondack Pub & Brewery owner John Carr is in depositions this week. The company is speaking out via social media andan online petition to "free the moose."
In a recent YouTube video,Carr says there's a clear distinction between the two products and antlered animals.
"I think anybody that looks at my moose knows that this moose is totally different than any other moose that's out there. I've always been respectful of their trademark, I've never made beer with moose in it, and I've never made anything using the term Moosehead or anything similar to that," said Carr.
Moosehead did not have any additional comment, but referred WAMC to a March 2015 statement by VP of Sales & Marketing, Trevor Grant. He said "Adirondack and its lawyers chose not to responded to our multiple invitations (both written and verbal) to engage in discussion concerning a possible resolution." He goes on to say the company is "simply trying to make sure we don't lose the rights to the name and images we have trademarked and worked so hard to develop over the last seven decades."
In his video, Carr says after a back and forth with Moosehead, the company sent Adirondack a letter asking for Moose Wizz root beer to be taken off the shelf.
"And I totally respect trademark law, I understand it very well and it's a good thing. It's there to protect creativity. It's not there to dominate the market or try to own an animal. And the concept that they're doing is that they own the moose," argues Carr.
Albany Law School professor Rob Heverly specializes in trade and copyright law.
"I don't think this is a clear case. I think this is something where the proof would have to come in that there's confusion."
Heverly says while Moosehead holds the copyright for its moose on alcoholic beverages and products like t-shirts, it does not on soda, and that may work in Adirondack's favor.
"If they were doing beer and had moose on there, it's going to be an easier case for Moosehead. They're outside of Moosehead's main market and that makes it a little bit harder to say 'Hey, everybody is going to confuse this with Moosehead beer, because it's not beer'," said Heverly.
Heverly said Moosehead would need to gather its own consumer data on whether consumers were confused.
