Shmaltz Brewing Resolves Dispute Over Mannage A Trois Beer
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Shmaltz Brewing Co said on Wednesday it has settled a lawsuit in which California’s Sutter Home Winery Inc accused it of infringing its “Menage a Trois” trademark by selling 12-packs of beer carrying the “MANNAge a Trois” name.
Shmaltz, whose beers include the He’Brew line, said “the parties have amicably resolved the dispute to their mutual satisfaction.”
Terms were not disclosed. Neither Shmaltz nor lawyers for Sutter Home were immediately available for additional comment.
In its Nov. 28 complaint in San Francisco federal court, Sutter Home had called MANNAge a Trois “confusingly similar” to Menage a Trois, which it said it began using in 1997 and trademarked in 2006.
Shmaltz used MANNAge a Trois for the sale of its Hop Manna, Hop Mania and Hop Momma India pale ales.. Sutter Home is perhaps best known for its white zinfandel.
The Brewers Association trade group said there were more than 4,900 U.S. craft breweries as of Nov. 30, 2016, twice the number four years earlier. This proliferation has resulted in many lawsuits over beer names.
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