Brewers Bollocked in War of the Roses

You may have read about a dispute between Cropton Brewery of Yorkshire and the much bigger Sam Smith, the oddball idiosyncratic Tadcaster mob. The dispute was over the use, on a Cropton bottled beer, of a white rose, which the more educated among you may just recognise as the symbol of Yorkshire. So think about that one. Yorkshire brewer uses Yorkshire rose shock horror. Sam's however claim the rose as their trade mark. The nub of the argument runs thus: Cropton claims the rose is the symbol of Yorkshire and there is no reason why it should not use it, but Samuel Smith’s claims it is an infringement of its trademark and confusingly similar to its rose which it has used since the 1960s.

Now the even more anal among you may know that said oddballs, sorry, idiosyncratic brewery, has, for the last umpteen years, been stripping from almost everything, including its pubs and drays (though not its bottled beers admittedly) said cherished trade mark, (the Yorkshire rose.) You may also think that this is one where surely they could have got together and solved this little difference of opinion.  So did the judge, though he did rule in favour of Sam Smith's in the aspect of the disputed beer, though not in the case of another beer, brewed for Marks and Spencer by Cropton.

Mr Justice Arnold said it should have been settled "a long time ago", without the enormous cost of a High Court hearing. He said: "The dispute is one which ought to have been capable of settlement out of court a long time ago. Instead it has grown into a case which is out of all proportion to what is at stake in commercial terms." I can't imagine though, that particular aspect will bother Humphrey Smith who has deep pockets, but it will surely be a needless cost to Cropton.

Yorkshire pride and stubbornness is well reputed. Here it is illustrated. Fun though to the outsider.

I am grateful to the Yorkshire Press who seem to be the only ones arsed to report on this titanic struggle.