Whiskey label too similar to Jameson, court rules

THE HIGH Court has ruled that Cooley Distillery caused confusion among customers by selling bottles of Irish whiskey on the Russian market under labels similar to those used by rival brand Jameson.

Mr Justice Roderick Murphy yesterday granted Irish Distillers, the makers of Jameson Irish Whiskey, an injunction preventing Cooley from using the labels on their St Patrick brand. The injunction prevents Cooley using the labels until a full hearing of the dispute between the companies.

Following the order, it is believed Cooley will now change the labels.

Irish Distillers had contended the labelling on bottles of St Patrick Irish Whiskey, made by Cooley Distillery in Co Louth and distributed in Russia by a company called Rotor House, were so similar it was leading customers to believe it is from the same family of products. They claimed this infringed their copyright and registered trademarks but Cooley Distillery denied the claims.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Murphy said he had concluded, on the evidence and balance of probability, that the public was likely to be confused.

He ruled Cooley had used a sign which was “similar to the trade mark” and also used it in relation to goods identical to those for which the trade mark is registered.

While Cooley was entitled to get the best results from its marketing strategy and to encourage distributors to include St Patrick within a range of Irish whiskey, it was not entitled to maintain similarities in labelling which would lead to confusion with Jameson.

It was not relevant that the St Patrick’s label was created by graphic designers on behalf of Rotor house and that Cooley had no input into the label other than with regard to its size, he added.

Irish Distillers had claimed the label on the St Patrick bottles was similar in design and layout to that of Jameson and said it was concerned confusion among customers would damage Jameson’s reputation for quality.

Rotor House had distributed Jameson in the lucrative and growing Russian market but that arrangement had come to an end last November.

Cooley had denied the label of St Patrick infringed any copyright or that it was confusing customers in Russia, and accused Irish Distillers of seeking to “undermine a competitor” via a “contrived grievance”.