In-N-Out Burger frys up a pun filled trade mark cease and desist letter to brewery

A trade mark cease and desist letter is the first step in preventing someone from using your registered trade mark.

This letter will outline your protection and how the other company is infringing that.

As you will appreciate, these letters are not normally the place for jokes but it seems that In-N-Out Burger in the US has seen it differently.

When they discovered a brewery in California, Seven Stills, was promoting a ‘In-N- Stout beer’, they were keen to put a stop to it but didn’t take the normal line of threats.

Instead they choose to tickle their funny bone by packing the letter full of brewery and beer puns.

Examples of such were that the burger can felt they needed to ‘hop into action’ to prevent any ‘further issues from brewing’.

The letter was posted on social media by the brewery themselves, how highlighted the funny nature of the letter.

While the letter is lighter in spirits, it still contains the trade mark protection steps required by any business, the need for the brewery to stop using the name and imagery both on the products and on its online channels.

While this cheerful approach has worked in the past, it seems in this case there may still be a issue as three days after receiving the  letter, the brewery announced that the stout’s name was being changed to Poopy-Di-Scoop but that the first 100 customers would get a free In-N-Out burger.

This hasn’t done them any favours and only raised the confusion with customers debating the origin of the product and a link with the burger chain.

Confusion is a key element to show if In-N-Out want to push for trade mark infringement- so watch this space.

Please contact The Trademarkroom Team if you would like any information on how to protect your brand.

By Ellis Sweetenham