Syracuse University “has chosen to beat down a local family business,” forcing it to stop producing and selling one of its best sellers, Cuse Juice Orange Liqueur. That’s from a petition on Change.org.
Lock 1 Distilling, Phoenix, N.Y., began selling Cuse Juice in the spring of 2017. It filed a trademark for the product, and was immediately opposed by Syracuse University, which decided to name its drinks kiosks “‘Cuse Juice.” (The university uses an apostrophe before Cuse, the distillery doesn’t.)
The university’s action has led to pushback from local residents and alumni. Cuse is slang for both the city of Syracuse and for Syracuse University. As of press time, 3,549 people had signed a petition accusing the university of “over-sealously protecting a trademark which is not in conflict with the liqueur.” The university’s ‘Cuse trademark is for Clothing, namely, shirts and caps,” according to Change.org.
Among the reasons giving for signing the petition:
Janelle Matlock–“I’m signing because, to me, Cuse stands for Syracuse, not just Syracuse University.”
Jennifer Byrnes–“As an alum of SU and a lifetime resident of Syracuse, I too am disgusted to hear that SU’s stance that they somehow OWN the ‘CUSE name. Taking down a small business is shameful.”
Mac Havens–“Cuse isn’t just the school. Cuse is who we are as a community. There is no ownership to the word Cuse other than its WHO WE ARE. Get over yourselves Syracuse University. You know you are wrong for doing this.”
Mary Renna–“This is completely ridiculous. This drink is about Syracuse. The CITY, not the University. It’s about everything about it being produced in Syracuse. It’s very presumptuous of the University to think this has ANYTHING to do with them!”
Matt Mounce–“What y’all did to a small business just so you could rename a juice stand is absolutely shameful.”
Jen Gerni–“SU does not hold a copy write to Cuse. Unfair for a large organization strong arming a small business.”
Nicholas Lewis–“Apparently Syracuse University decided it owns the whole city, and decided to flex it muscles against a small business they knew wouldn’t be able to fight it.”
Syracuse University naturally put out a statement saying it’s a proud supporter of local business, and has “an obligation to protect our brand and image.” (Comment: It would have been interesting to have this go to trial, because the vast majority of comments on the petition asserted Cuse refers to the city, not the university, as do entries on Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary.)
Lock 1’s co-owner, Brendan Backus, told the local ABC news affiliate a trademark search found “Syracuse University had no trademarks in the alcoholic beverage category or trademark category. They had the word ‘Cuse trademarked with an apostrophe in front of it, for clothing and apparel. So there seemed to be no conflict there.”
For extra legal protection, Backus had his label designers go as far to use the color orange with purple, instead of with blue.
Enough protections to help build a case Backus said he feels is strong enough to win. But, “it comes down to dollars and cents. We don’t have the resources to fight somebody like Syracuse University. Even if we won the trademark case, they made it clear they could come after us on common law rights. So this would get dragged on and take several years to get resolved,” Backus says.
Why not just change the name, keep producing the product? Blame the COLA process, both at the federal and state level, he said.
Syracuse University got around to filing for a ‘Cuse Juice trademark a couple of weeks ago. About the same time it pressured Lock 1 to stop selling its orange liqueur.