Are “Beers for a Cause” an Illegal Inducement?
Latest from Craft Beer Law Prof
The Glassware Bill is Dead: Good News for California Independent Craft Beer
With the California legislative cycle coming to a close, California independent craft beer received an unexpected boost from Governor Brown. AB 2573, an Anheuser-Busch sponsored bill, passed the legislature. But last Wednesday (on the first day of the California Craft Brewers Association (“CCBA”) 2018 Summit), Governor Brown vetoed the bill with a nice explanation. More on that later.
AB 2573, as originally introduced, would have allowed a beer manufacturer to give a licensed retailer…
Quiet Supply Chain Antics
During my craft beer law class this summer at McGeorge, many students were surprised to hear about the many ways that Big Beer seeks to restore lost market share. One way in particular that seemed to rankle their eager minds is how Big Beer quietly impacts the supply chain that independent craft brewers (and home brewers) rely on. There are several ways that Big Beer uses the market to continue to dominate production. But there…
Craft Beer Law Student Article: Megan McCauley
As a bit of a jaded reward for writing a great paper in my Craft Beer Law class, the following is a very interesting paper written by a rock-star McGeorge student, Megan McCauley. Megan has been a standout student in two of my classes–especially Craft Beer Law. What I find most interesting about her piece is the idea of creating a dispute resolution mechanism for Brewers Association members to lessen the potential for brewer-on-brewer litigation. …
So What Does a Craft Beer Law Class Look Like?
This last weekend (2/16-2/18), I had the honor and privilege of teaching the first craft beer law class offered at a U.S. law school (and I believe worldwide). Several of my friends and colleagues are asking me what the heck that looks like. It must be a joke, right? Nope. I’m pretty sure California’s 921 craft breweries would agree with me.
To start, as is often the case with new classes, McGeorge offered this class…
Lies (allegedly), Damned Lies (allegedly), and Class Actions
So what a brewery says on labels and packaging is important. And consumer protection laws (including false advertising laws) are important. Add these two concepts up, and it appears to be class action heaven. Brewers can avoid this nasty equation by being as up front as possible on both labels and packaging, especially about where a particular beer comes from.
One Northern District of California lawsuit involves Kona Brewing Company (Broomfiled v. Craft Brew Alliance). …
A Seal of Approval and Unlikely Legal Morass
Have you seen this yet?
Ignore the interesting syllabic presentation. It’s not quite news anymore in the craft beer world that the Brewers Association recently created this seal so that members can use it on their marketing and products. So what does this seal mean? Why is it significant?
According to the BA, the “independent craft brewer seal is a handy tool for enthusiasts to easily differentiate beer from craft brewers and beer produced by other,…
True (Crafty) Colors?
The list of Big Beer owned crafty breweries keeps getting larger (many known as ABI’s “High End”). That is, until ABI recently announced that it is out of its craft brewery acquisition phase. The focus now, according to ABI, will be on an organic growth. Check out Good Beer Hunting’s article on this topic here:
http://goodbeerhunting.com/sightlines/2017/9/7/anheuser-busch-inbev-the-high-end-layoffs
Perhaps what is most striking in this age of consolidation is the stark contrast between the way independent craft…
Big Win for Craft Beer in the Ninth Circuit Over the Summer
So the Ninth Circuit got this one right. Basically, big beer still won’t be able to pay retailers for advertising under California law. That, my fellow craft beer lovers, is a big deal.
If you’ve followed my prior blog posts, you’d know that I have been following the Retail Digital Network (“RDN”) case very closely. It has major ramifications for craft beer, but as I’ve been saying all along, it also has major ramifications for…
Vader and the Borg: Pathways Toward Galactic Domination
What’s Big Beer up to? If you pay attention to beer headlines or the blogosphere, you have no doubt noticed folks shining light on Big Beer’s antics. In my mind, Big Beer’s conduct can be classified into two camps: Vader (akin to vertical integration) and the Borg (akin to horizontal integration with some psychology mixed in). It’s kind of funny because Big Beer does things that suggest it wants to exterminate craft beer like pesky…