Legal wheels turn in radler dispute

A trademark battle in Wellington this week could have some significant implications for both breweries and beer drinkers.

The Society of Beer Advocates, a small group of beer lovers, is taking on DB Breweries over who owns the rights to label "radler" beer.

The dispute between the two parties started in 2008 when Heineken-owned DB wrote to Dunedin brewery Green Man advising it that it could not sell its radler beer because DB had trademarked the term radler in 2003.

Unable to risk a long legal battle against the brewing giant, Green Man relabelled its Green Man Radler as Green Man Cyclist - cyclist being the English translation of German word radler - and agreed to take the matter no further.

The society took up the mantle on behalf of beer consumers and filed an application for the trademark to be revoked on the basis radler had existed as a recognised name for any beer/lemonade mix that originated in German pubs more than a century ago and no company should "own" the exclusive rights to the name of a recognised beer style.

Wellington intellectual property law firm James and Wells offered to represent the society for free.

DB argued that because it was the first to commercially market the name radler in New Zealand, it should have rights to its definition. The brewer has also trademarked the term Saison, a beer developed in Belgium years ago.

The trademarks mean no-one can import or sell in New Zealand any beers bearing the terms Radler or Saison on their label.

The two sides are meeting this week in a three-day hearing before the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to dispute the meaning of the word "radler", and whether it can be trademarked.

DB said it would wait for the Intellectual Property Office's decision next month before making any comments on the society's challenge.

DB Breweries general manager marketing Clare Morgan said its radler product was valuable to the company and a recent survey by DB, which formed part of its hearing evidence, showed that to New Zealand consumers the term radler meant Monteith's Radler product.

University of Otago marketing professor Janet Hoek said the society appeared to have a strong case, because radler was a descriptive term for a style of beer and not a brand, and styles of beer should not be trademarked.

Prof Hoek's husband, Prof Phil Gendall, of Massey University, is an expert witness for the society at the hearing.

The debate was likely to result in the IPO looking a lot closer at similar applications, she said.

Green Man Brewery general manager Jeremy Feaman said the company still produced Cyclist, but would probably return to labelling it Radler if DB's trademark was revoked.

American online beer writer Carolyn Smagalski said such cases were the testing ground used by beer conglomerates with sights set on market share.