Sony Sues Brewery Over ‘Breaking Bad’ Beer

Sony Pictures, the production house of famous TV series Breaking Bad has filed a complaint against Knee Deep Brewing Co. on 17 April for trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition. Sony is also looking to stop Brewery from using the current name, logo, and design.

According to the complaint, Knee Deep started selling its ‘Breaking Bud’ beer in 2015 and has been using the fame and recognition of Breaking Bad show which is claimed as the most critically acclaimed show of all time. This is against the law as companies pay licensing fees for such rights in order to promote and identify their businesses, products, and services.

Replying to this, the CEO of Knee Deep Brewing Jerry Moore stated that he had no indication that Sony had a problem with this and he believes that the customers take the beer name as a joke not associated with the television show. Moore said: “I was surprised by the unexpected lawsuit filed against us by Sony, especially after they originally contacted us many years ago touting their appreciation of our Breaking Bud beer that made gentle fun of their show. Shortly after Breaking Bud was introduced, in early 2015, I actually received an email from a Sony representative that read: “It seems the Knee Deep team are big fans of Breaking Bad and we really appreciate the call out to our very popular show”.

The Knee Deep Brewey company even posted about this on Instagram. You can check what the post read:

From our CEO, regarding our friends at Sony: I was surprised by the unexpected lawsuit filed against us by Sony yesterday, especially after they originally contacted us many years ago touting their appreciation of our Breaking Bud beer that made gentle fun of their show. Shortly after Breaking Bud was introduced, in early 2015, I actually received an email from a Sony representative that said, “It seems the Knee Deep team are big fans of Breaking Bad and we really appreciate the call out to our very popular show.” Soon thereafter I spoke with the Sony representative and we discussed the potential benefits of a formal partnership between Knee Deep and Sony but we ultimately decided not to pursue such a partnership because, among other things, our label has always been meant as a joke and not something seriously connected to the show. At no point, during those discussions, did Sony ever threaten to sue Knee Deep over the name of the beer. I’ve always been under the impression that Sony had no issue with our Breaking Bud beer since, after all, the Sony rep is the one who told me he “appreciate(ed) the call out to our very popular show” which is hardly what one would expect from someone who thinks they can sue you for the “call out” if you don’t pay them a licensing fee, which is what I gather they now want from us. Breaking Bud is one of our more successful beers, and I think our customers appreciate that the quirky label is a joke. No one has ever thought the joke meant we were endorsed by Breaking Bad. We are a small brewery and I don’t appreciate the distraction, not to mention the expense of having to deal with something that should have been addressed 3 years ago if Sony really had an issue with it. At the end of the day, the quality of the beer is what has made Breaking Bud popular and we should all be able to take a joke.

A post shared by **Knee Deep Brewing Company** (@kneedeepbrewingco) on Apr 18, 2018 at 1:30pm PDT

Note that Knee Deep is the Sacramento area’s largest brewery, based on the total number of barrels produced in 2016. Also, Breaking Bud won a bronze medal in the “American-Style India Pale Ale” category during the 2016 Great American Beer Festival.