Category: Legislative & Regulatory
News relating to the state and federal politics of beer and regulatory structure
News PA Does it Right – Approves Grants for State’s Brewers
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced last week that the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has approved $1.2 million in grants for 18 projects to increase the production of Pennsylvania-made beer and enhance the Pennsylvania beer industry through promotion, marketing, and research-based programs and projects.
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News Calif. ABC Fines Grocery Chain for Trade Practice Violations
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) announced that they have reached an agreement with Albertsons LLC, Safeway Inc., and The Vons Companies, Inc. to pay $600,000 following an ABC investigation that alleged violations of California alcoholic beverage laws.
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News Armistice Brewing pulls Mary Berry Beer after cease-and-desist from Mary Berry of “The Great British Bake Off” fame.
Craft breweries naming beers after popular celebrities and brands is not uncommon. It’s also not uncommon to find yourself confronted with legal difficulties when you don’t dot the i’s and cross the t’s by contacting the source of your inspiration.
Via – SF Gate
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News UK – CAMRA bans discriminatory labels at beer festival
Beers with “discriminatory names or artwork” have been banned at CAMRA’s flagship event, the Great British Beer Festival, taking place this week in London. All of the festival’s beers, ciders and perries have been checked to ensure they meet CAMRA’s charter and code of conduct. The festival chose Stonewall as this years charity of choice and will be contributing proceeds in support. The announcement is a result of high profile figures in the UK’s beer industry putting pressure on lobbying bodies like CAMRA to act on sexism in the trade.
Via The Drinks Business
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News Penn State files lawsuit against Sports Beer Brewing for trademark infringement
Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA) has filed a lawsuit against Sports Beer Brewing for trademark infringement, alleging that it is exploiting its ‘Penn State’ and ‘Nittany Lions’ trademarks.
On its website, the Florida-based company owned by Paul Parshall, Sports Beer describes itself as “an intellectual property holding company” with a collection of “sports trademarks, registrations and service marks” for US sports teams. Pennsylvania State University filed its lawsuit last Friday (26 July) at the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The institution is suing Sports Beer for trademark infringement, unfair competition and trademark dilution, claiming that the company has “engaged in a brazen, wilful effort to exploit and trade on the fame and goodwill associated with Penn State’s rights in the famous Penn State and Nittany Lions trademarks”.
It accuses Sports Beer of infringing on trademarks “belonging to many other colleges, universities and professional sports teams”.
Via Centre Daily Times
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News US Supreme Court Grants Big Victory for Direct Shipments
The US Supreme Court handed down a major opinion yesterday in a historic ruling that could allow brewers to skip middle-tier distribution networks across the country by allowing retailers to ship across state lines directly to consumers.
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News Tax Relief Bill a Step Closer to One Year Extension
The House Ways and Means Committee passed a one-year extension of the federal excise tax relief for alcohol producers and importers as part of the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019, bringing the recalibrated federal excise taxes (FET) for breweries, wineries, and distilleries one step closer.
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News Brewing Jobs Continue to Grow Despite Slow Growth
The annual Beer Serves America study, released by the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association shows that the number of jobs in the brewing industry has increased 8% since 2016 even though the beer sales overall were down 2.4%. Most of the new jobs were created by the craft sector, which grew by 4% last year.
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News Trump Tariff Impact on Mexican Imports
The price of number one import Corona and other fast-growing Mexican beers will likely increase as President Donald Trump announced on yesterday that he will impose a stiff tariff on imported goods from Mexico starting June 10th until “such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico” stop.
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News Police seize stolen beer kegs valued at £900,000 in Northern Ireland
Police in Northern Ireland recovered caches of thousands of stolen beer kegs belonging to a local drinks distributor during an investigation into organized crime according to detective chief inspector Dunny McCubbin. Two men were arrested in connection to the theft.
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News Industry Faces Swings in Trade War
President Donald Trump lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Friday which will provide some relief to the beverage industry. The Beer Institute has estimated that 43% of aluminum used by beverage companies in the U.S. comes from Canada.
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News Texas Brewers May Finally Get Off-Sale Rights
It is still Illegal in Texas for breweries to sell beer to consumers for off-site consumption. But it now looks like the much debated “beer-to-go” law change may go forward after the politically powerful Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas (WBDT) agreed to not oppose the latest version of the bill. The bill would allow brewery customers to purchase up to a case of beer a day at the brewery.
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News UK’s advertising watchdogs ready to clamp down on alcohol advertising
UK advertising watchdogs plan to clamp down on alcohol brands that promote their brands to young consumers with the suggestion they will be happier, more confident, or successful, marketing experts warn. According to the ASA, claiming that alcohol has therapeutic qualities or is the answer to overcoming boredom and loneliness or other problems “pretty much always breaks the rules”.
Via: The Drinks Business
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News Guns N’ Roses is taking Canarchy to court over Guns ‘N’ Rosé ale
Rock band Guns N’ Roses filed a lawsuit against Canarchy Craft Brewing Collective’s Oskar Blues Brewery for trademark infringement over a beer called Guns ‘N’ Rosé. The band claims the Colorado Brewery started selling the craft ale in 2018 without the band’s approval. Merchandise such as hats, t-shirts, pint glasses, stickers, buttons, and bandanas carrying the Guns ‘N’ Rosé logo was also sold, according to California court documents obtained by CNN.
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News Federal Excise Tax Could Double for Brewers at End of Year
The 2017 Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA), which provided tax breaks for producers in the alcohol industry will sunset at the end of this year unless Congress votes to approve legislation to extend or make the reduced tax structure permanent.
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News Hick For Prez
Former brewery owner (oh, and also former Governor of Colorado) John Hickenlooper (D) announced today that he is running for president in 2020. John was a well-known craft brewing industry pioneer after opening the Wynkoop Brewing Company brewpub in 1988. The brewery was one of the first businesses to open in what later became the revitalized LoDo area of Denver. When it first opened, the rent for Wynkoop’s real estate was $1 per square foot per year
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News Pete Coors Takes on Aluminum Tariffs
Posted by Tom McCormick
Pete Coors, in an op-ed column in the Wall Street Journal, gave the thumbs down to President Trumps notion that tariffs can be “avoided.” Coors, vice chairman of the Molson Coors Brewing Co., wrote “according to President Trump, tariffs can be ‘completely avoided if you buy from a non-Tariffed Country, or you buy the product inside the USA (the best idea). That’s Zero Tariffs.’ Unfortunately, this isn’t quite true for anyone buying aluminum. Thanks to manipulative business practices that appear to permeate the industry, it doesn’t matter if you buy from a tariffed company or an American one—you’ll still pay the same high price.”
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