Stone Brewing Slams MillerCoors' Rebranding Attempt With Lawsuit

Craft beer brand Stone Brewing, maker of the Arrogant Bastard Ale, is suing MillerCoors. Why? The beer giant had the stones to rebrand Keystone Light as 'Stone.

Stone Brewing claims that MillerCoors is infringing on the copyrighted name and selling merchandise that largely advertises the beer as "'Stone." This also isn't the first time MillerCoors has made an attempt for the name, according to Stone Brewing's CEO, Dominic Engels.

"MillerCoors tried to register our name years ago and was rejected," Engles said in a statement. "Now its marketing team is making 30-pack boxes stacked high with nothing but the word "Stone' visible. Same for Keystone's social media, which almost uniformly has dropped the 'Key.'"

Stone Brewing's executive chairman and co-founder Greg Koch released a video yesterday cheekily explaining the details of the lawsuit and asked MillerCoors to "put the 'Key' back in 'Keystone.'"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7zW4Dnb_7g

Craft beer has seen a lot of infringement cases lately. Minneapolis craft company Modist Brewing received a comical, and now viral, cease and desist letter from Anheuser-Busch InBev for releasing its new Mosaic Double IPA "Dilly Dilly." The term is trademarked by Bud Light. Beyoncé also sent a cease and desist letter to Brooklyn makers, Lineup Brewing, for its pilsner named Bïeryoncé.