West Sixth, Magic Hat settle trademark dispute

The public legal disagreement between West Sixth Brewing and the executives at Magic Hat about whether or not the various iterations of West Sixth’s logo infringed on the trademark of Magic Hat’s #9 has come to an end. The two sides met and mutually resolved the matter, eliminating both the arduous legal process and any potential brand confusion.

Behind the scenes, the two companies had been trying to hash out their differences via legal letterhead for months dating back to the fall 2012. The matter became public (and … colorful) when West Sixth took to social media to share with its customers its side of the story and to start a petition against Magic Hat. Magic Hat seemed blindsided by the attack and released a PDF of all the previous legal correspondence between the two sides and noted the specific issues they were looking to resolve, outside of court, in regard to the trademark issue. Magic Hat then filed a defamation suit in response to West Sixth’s public outcry, which then drew another response from West Sixth.

In the end, the matter was resolved without a court room. The compromise results in this West Sixth Brewing logo to the right, minus the direction symbol or “dingbat” that was a main point of controversy, and includes the name of the brewery prominently around the circle at all times, which was not the case before. And now, the final statement on the matter:

“Both Magic Hat and West Sixth have agreed that this joint statement will be the last public communication from either side regarding the resolved dispute.

Each wishes the other good fortune and continued success.”