Brewery pokes fun at Radler case with billboard

Boundary Road Brewery (BRB), owned by Independent Liquor, has poked fun at the trade marking of “Radler."

DB Breweries trade marked the name in 2004, which was appealed in 2009 by the Society of Beer Advocates (Soba) after DB brought a trademark action against Green Man Organic Brewery for the use of the name “Radler,” the New Zealand Herald reported. 

The Intellectual Property Office confirmed the trademark earlier this year, it reported.

Now, BRB has put up a billboard that pokes fun at the trade marking. The billboard in Ellerslie reads: “Fine, we won’t call it a Radler then,” written next to a bottle of the brewery’s new beer, Lawn Ranger.

BRB general manager of marketing Adam Maxwell said the campaign poked fun at the trade marking of Radler.

“We don’t think it’s very fair that Monteith's have trademarked an international beer style and we don’t think most Kiwi beer drinkers do either so we’re just poking a bit of fun at it, to be honest.”

Mr Maxwell said the company had been advised that it was within its rights to refer to the style of the beer as a Radler, since DB had trade marked “Radler” as a brand name.

“DB has set us a letter putting their point of view forward but there’s no particular action at this point,” he said.

Radler was a German beer style that dated back to the 1920s and was basically an international descriptor, he added.

DB Breweries general manager marketing Clare Morgan confirmed the organisation had sent a letter reminding BRB that “Radler” was a registered trademark in New Zealand and any use of the term as a trademark in relation to beer should refer to its DB Breweries’ Monteith’s product.

“We’re not planning any further action at this stage in relation to the billboard,” she said.

Radler was not a generic term for a style of beer in New Zealand.

“The ‘style’ of a product which mixes beer with lemonade or lime is commonly known as a 'shandy' in New Zealand,” she said.

Radler was German for cyclist and was one of many different regional names used to describe a beer and lemonade cocktail mix.

Ms Morgan said DB Breweries’ registration of Radler as a trade mark meant other local brewers could not use the term in the New Zealand market, but it did not stop other shandy or lemon or lime flavoured beverages being made by local brewers.

“There are at least four brewers doing exactly that, including BRB.”

DB Breweries was not stifling consumer choice, she said, and BRB’s new beer was ample proof of this.

“It’s interesting to note too that ‘Radler’ has been successfully trademarked in two other countries besides New Zealand.”

BRB had just the one billboard at the moment, Mr Maxwell said, and he was not sure if the campaign would continue past that. 

“It’s been done with a sense of humour really.”

The name ‘Lawn Ranger’ was a bit quirky like all Boundary Road Beers’ names, he said, and reflected the beer’s refreshing nature.

“When you’re hot and sweaty after mowing the lawn, it’d be nice to have a Lawn Ranger to cool down.”

The BRB craft range was doing well, Mr Maxwell said, with sales figures in Foodstuffs for BRB 6-packs versus Monteiths from Aztec as follows: