"Joel" wrote in message
...

Not that I have a horse in this race, but what *are*
the facts about litigation (threatened or otherwise)
from Anchor regarding trademark infringements? I recall
one pro brewer who used to hang out here who claimed to
be on the receiving end of some sort of threat.

And the facts are that Anchor's trademark is arguably for the label for
their steam beer, not for the name. I've had trademark attorneys tell me
that this is the sort of mark that is sufficiently vague that it could
easily be litigated, and someone wanting to use the name steam beer, but in
a different visual presentation, would stand a good chance of prevailing.

But that wouldn't prevent Anchor for trying to assert otherwise and
threatening legal action for anyone else who attempts to use the name (which
is what any business would do with one of their trademarks - you can
actually lose your trademark if the courts find you haven't been diligent in
your defense of it). Most breweries aren't exactly swimming in enough cash
to pursue defending themselves in a long litigation and test out the theory
of my trademark lawyer friends.

You can view Anchor's actual trademark registration he
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?r...entry=73184711

Do a Google groups search on "Karl Bremer Anchor".

And those posts basically follow what I stated above.

-Steve