USA: Molson Coors loses bid for retrial in Stone Brewing trademark case

Beer giant Molson Coors on September 25 failed to convince a federal judge in San Diego to overturn a jury's decision that the company owes $56 million for violating craft brewery Stone Brewing's trademark rights, Reuters reported.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez said that Molson Coors was not entitled to a new trial or a court ruling in its favor, rejecting its arguments that the evidence did not support the verdict.

Benitez also denied Stone Brewing's motion for a new bench trial on its allegations that Molson Coors used the "Stone" name in bad faith, which could have justified additional damages.

Molson Coors spokesperson Rachel Dickens said the company disagreed with the decision and is evaluating its options, including a potential appeal. Representatives for Stone Brewing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.

Escondido, California-based Stone Brewing sued what was then MillerCoors in 2018, arguing its marketing of Keystone beers that focused on the words "Stone" and "Stones" without "Key" caused consumer confusion and infringed its trademarks.

Stone Brewing told the court that Molson Coors had rebranded Keystone to capitalize on the brewery's consumer goodwill. A jury returned a $56 million verdict for Stone Brewing last March.

Sapporo U.S.A. acquired Stone Brewing, one of America's largest indepeendent craft breweries, in August 2022.

Molson Coors argued last October that the verdict could not stand because Stone Brewing had not shown that its advertising was likely to confuse consumers.

While Benitez previously said in an order that he would have ruled for Molson Coors on the question had he "been in the position of fact-finder," he upheld the verdict on Monday because it was not "unreasonable or against the 'great weight' of the evidence."

The court also rejected Molson Coors' bid to cut or overturn the jury's damages award.

The case is Stone Brewing Co v. Molson Coors Brewing Co, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, No. 3:18-cv-00331.

For Stone: Noah Hagey, Doug Curran, Jeff Theodore and Forrest Hainline of BraunHagey & Borden

For Molson Coors: Jon Bunge and Dan Lombard of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Kent Goss and Valerie Goo of Crowell & Moring

26 September, 2023