The West Sixth Logo on the left is the subject of a lawsuit for claimed similarities to the Magic Hat logo on the right.
Lexington, KY – One-year-old West Sixth Brewery is facing a lawsuit from Magic Hat Brewery claiming the Lexington brewer copied the logo for one of its beers.
Magic Hat asks for “West Sixth to account for and to pay over to Magic Hat all profits realized by West Sixth” for what the lawsuit claims is “irreparable harm” brought upon the company for the “confusingly and substantially similar” logos.
According to the lawsuit, Magic Hat’s #9 beer logo which was originally trade marked in 1995 and updated in 2007, was copied by West Sixth’s company logo which appears on its two canned beers and promotional materials.
“West Sixth’s conduct is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive consumers, the public, and the trade as to the source of the infringing products, or as to a possible affiliation, connection, or association between Magic Hat, West Sixth, and the infringing products,” the lawsuit states.
In a Facebook response to the suit brought by Magic Hat, owned by North American Breweries, a division of Heredia, Costa Rica-based Florida Ice and Farm Co., West Sixth Owners Ben Self, Brady Barlow, Joe Kuosman and Robin Sither state they’ve consulted with their attorneys and feel confident no violation occurred.
“Our logos were professionally designed by a designer in Lexington called Cricket Press who has a long history of fantastic and creative logo designs,” their Facebook post reads.
In addition, the Facebook post states that despite an unanticipated growth in their first year, there would be no profits for West Sixth to hand over were a court to find against them. “As a startup company, there wasn’t any, oops,” the post reads.
The lawsuit also demands West Sixth cease any future use of their current logo.