Camden Town and Redwell breweries settle over “Hells”

It’s an indication that competition among craft brewers is heating up if they start bickering over words and take each other to court. Redwell Brewery, a microbrewer from Norwich, has agreed to stop producing its Hells Lager in an out-of-court agreement after another craft brewer, Camden Town, which already had a beer with the same name, threatened it with legal action.

Obviously, the term “Hells” in English is a pun. It is a play on “purgatory” and on the German word Helles, a beer style, which has been adopted by many craft brewers.

Founded in 2012, Redwell decided to produce lagers and beers that would re-ignite Norwich’s rich brewing heritage. It thought it was ok to call its beer “Redwell Hells Lager” since Helles or Hells is a generic term in brewing and thus not a trademark. Patrick Fisher, co-owner of Redwell, argued at least 35 other brewers in the UK used the words Hells or Helles on their labels.

However, Camden Town Brewery of London, which sold an estimated 70,000 hl beer in 2015, believed Redwell’s Hells infringed on its own Hells lagers and took legal action. It issued Redwell with High Court papers in December 2014, claiming Redwell was trying to pass off its newer beer as Camden’s.

Mr Fisher told the BBC on 26 June 2016 that the settlement he had reached with Camden Town was “acceptable”, even though Redwell has now lost its Hells Lager. But he added: “we feel we have been bullied by them despite us trying so solve this amicably.”

Neither the Camden Town Brewery, which was established in 2010, nor its new owners AB-InBev have responded to the BBC’s request for comment.

It is not the first time that Redwell was threatened with legal action. In 2013 Redwell came to the notice of energy drink company Red Bull, which wanted Redwell to change its company name because Red Bull feared there might be some confusion over the term “Red”. In the end, media say, Redwell and Red Bull settled their dispute, with Redwell Brewery promising that its brand would never cross into energy drinks.

Redwell’s wrangles are another friendly reminder of the booby traps called trademark/copyright laws and how easy it is to step into them unawares.