MillerCoors Brewing Co. (now Molson Coors Beverage Co.) infringed Stone Brewing Co.‘s Stone trademark when MillerCoors rebranded its Keystone beer as Stone, a federal court in San Diego found.
During the time of infringement, Molson Coors sold more than $1.7 billion of Keystone beer branded as STONE. The three-week trial took place before U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez and an eight-person jury.
Stone Brewing is the nation’s 9th largest craft brewery, yet in 2020 it produced 347,000 barrels of beer, only 0.5% the volume of beer produced by Molson Coors. This underdog win is a victory for every craft brewery that prides itself in independence, valuing quality over all else.
“From the moment our team saw Keystone’s intentional theft of the Stone trademark, we believed this day would come, explained Maria Stipp, Stone Brewing CEO. “We are committed to doing everything in our power to protect the incredible reputation of the Stone brand and the passionate team who built it. We’d like to thank the team at BraunHagey & Borden LLC for their representation of our case. They put their heart, souls and talent into it, and we couldn’t have asked for anything more than that.”
Stone Brewing Co-Founder Greg Koch added, “This is a historic day for Stone Brewing, and for the craft beer industry. MolsonCoors threatened our heritage, but we stood up to that threat. They will put the ‘Key’ back in ‘Keystone’ ending their hostile 4-year co-op of the Stone name. Cheers to our legions of fans, friends and supporters who believe in the good that craft beer brings. This is your win too.”
Stone was represented by the law firm BraunHagey & Borden LLP, a litigation boutique based in San Francisco and New York.
MolsonCoors didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment. When they do, we’ll update this story.