I don’t have a groundhog in this fight because I’ve never sampled the wares of either the Vermont Hard Cider Co. or Woodchuck Coffee Roasters. But the lawsuit that Vermont Hard Cider has filed against Woodchuck Coffee Roasters, also of Vermont, strikes me as so comical that it’s worth a mention.
The Associated Press reports that Vermont Hard Cider, whose logo features a woodchuck, has accused Woodchuck Coffee Roasters of trademark infringement. The coffee mavens, whose business is the newer of the two, are using a woodchuck to peddle their product as well.
Yup. These folks have hired lawyers to wage war over who has proprietary rights to the good name and image of that most noble of all creatures, the mighty groundhog.
The cider company says Woodchuck Coffee Roasters' logo is "strikingly similar" to Vermont Hard Cider's label, according to The AP, because both feature an oval "with a woodchuck sitting on its haunches. The logo and name are creating confusion and have led to Vermont residents asking if the cider company has gone into the coffee business, the suit says.”
So what do the coffee merchants have to say about this?
"We were thinking of names and my brother said 'we're a couple of woodchucks' — our family has been in Vermont several generations — so why not?" said Tony Basiliere, who runs the company with his brother. "The general consensus of people I talk to is you don't own 'Woodchuck' just like Green Mountain Coffee (Roasters) doesn't own ‘Green Mountain.’”
The lawsuit might make some sort of sense if the two companies were in the same business, or if Woodchuck Coffee Roasters owned an oozing hazardous-waste site whose very existence had tarnished the reputation of Vermont Hard Cider, or if both companies had identical mascots named Wally the Wondrous Woodchuck.
But none of that is true. What we have are two reputable Vermont companies in separate lines of work, with logos featuring woodchucks that, to my eye, don't look at all alike, beyond the fact that they're both members of the same species. (Actually, the Woodchuck Coffee Roasters critter has charisma, what with his steaming cuppa joe and his self-satisfied smirk; the other guy is just another generic groundhog.)
If the suit is to be believed, the world of commerce isn't big enough for two woodchucks, at least not in Vermont. So even if you've never asked yourself how many lawsuits would a woodchuck file if a woodchuck could file lawsuits, you now have an answer.
If the suit is to be believed, the world of commerce isn't big enough for two woodchucks, at least not in Vermont. So even if you've never asked yourself how many lawsuits would a woodchuck file if a woodchuck could file lawsuits, you now have an answer.
