Stone vs Keystone: Stone scores semi-victory in battle against MillerCoors

USA | The mills of justice grind slowly. It took a federal judge more than a year to deny Stone Brewing its request for a preliminary injunction against MillerCoors over its Keystone Light product cans.

In February 2018, Stone had sought an injunction to prevent MillerCoors from using the rebranded Keystone cans. After the rebrand, Keystone featured “Stone” on a separate line in bold fashion. Keystone – Stone geddit?

While Stone did not get an injunction, the judge said that Stone’s trademark infringement case is “moderately strong”. Most likely, the case will now head to trial.

Following the ruling, Stone’s cofounder Greg Koch issued a statement, saying:

“This is a very big deal. The Court’s order confirms what we knew: that MillerCoors should be ashamed of what they have been doing. All along this has been a clear-cut infringement case, and now we can focus our resources on proving the significant damages done to the good name of Stone Brewing.”

Stone Brewery from San Diego is the ninth-largest US craft brewer. By its own admission, it sold 450,000 hl beer in 2017 and 470,000 hl across its three brewery locations (San Diego, Virginia Beach on the east coast, and Berlin) in 2018.