Germany’s Paulaner Brauerei has won its court battle against Berentzen Gruppe over the design of the latter’s Mio Mio soft drink brand.
Paulaner took legal action against Berentzen at the start of this year for the design used on the label of one of its soft drinks.
At the time, Berentzen told Just Drinks Paulaner had argued Berentzen’s Mio Mio Cola + Orange Mix drink used “a colour wave that is claimed to correspond to the colour combination of Paulaner Spezi and is therefore confusingly similar”.
In a statement yesterday (5 August), Berentzen CEO Oliver Schwegmann said the business had been notified by a local court in Munich it had ruled in favour of Paulaner’s argument and decided the Mio Mio Cola + Orange Mix beverage was “too similar to the design of Paulaner Spezi”.
He added: “According to the ruling, this could give consumers the impression that our product is associated with Paulaner. We acknowledge the ruling and will now review the next steps internally.”
Paulaner welcomed the court’s decision. “Paulaner Spezi’s product presentation has remained unchanged for decades. It enjoys a high level of recognition and serves as proof of origin. This is why the iconic five-color wave is protected by trademark law,” it said.
“However, if other manufacturers imitate this design, appropriate action must be taken to protect the trademark. Otherwise, this right is forfeited. We always seek dialogue first. In most cases, we reach an agreement, and lawsuits are the exception. However, no out-of-court settlement could be reached with Berentzen.”
Paulaner has dealt with other trademark hurdles around Spezi in the past. Three years ago, the group was taken to court by Brauhaus Riegele over its use of the “Spezi” name.
Both brewers produced a soft drink using the Spezi name. Riegele argued at the time it had invented the drink and that Paulaner should hand over licence fees to continue to use the Spezi name.
In October 2022, the District Court of Munich ruled Paulaner could continue making the drink under the name “Paulaner Spezi” due to an agreement signed between both companies in 1974. Riegele had tried to end the agreement in 2021.
Commenting on the court’s latest decision in a post on LinkedIn, Schwegmann added the group was “still convinced that our MioMio Cola + Orange clearly stands out from the competition and that there is no risk of confusion”.
He added: “Whether we will appeal in the next step or develop a new and even more frightening design together with our loyal MioMio community is not yet clear.”
