| Modelo
Puts on IP
Chief on
Corona Hard
Seltzer Patent
Submitted
Falsely
Without
Permission
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 6 –
Modelo's
lawsuit
against
Constellation
for using its
Corona mark on
Corona Hard
Seltzer had
opening
arguments in
March 1, 2023.
Inner City
Press was
there.
Modelo's
counsel put
two glasses of
beer, and one
of the seltzer
he called
"sugar water,"
on a white
fold up table
in front of
the
jurors.
On the screen
he put the
licensing
agreement with
its savings
clause. "With
two lawyers on
the jury," he
said, "you'll
know what a
savings clause
is."
He also showed
slides of a
duck and an
airplane,
saying that
one is not a
"version" of
the other; he
said anyone
would protest
if served
chicken as
Peking Duck.
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Louis A.
Kaplan, who
also has the
US v.
Bankman-Fried
case among
others,
studied the
slides along
with the
jurors.
The relatively
short history
of hard
seltzer was
the topic of
another slide:
from Spiked
Seltzer to
Truly then the
peak (or
trough) of
White Claw.
(Former SDNY
US Attorney
Geoffrey
Berman in his
book "Holding
the Line"
mocks the
White Claws
drunk by
younger AUSAs;
review here.)
Modelo's
counsel said,
You will hear
from
Constellation's
chief legal
officer, he's
here in the
courtroom,
there in the
back with the
open
collar.
Yes, he will
be heard
from.
More
with analysis
on Substack here
On
March 2,
Modelo put on
the stand a
witness about
the
conglomerate's
move to
globalize its
brands
including
Stella and
Corona with
its image of
tropical
vacation. Then
a brewing
expert about
filtering.
Constellation
offered an
objection to
admission of
its Fernando
Aquire's
statement that
Beta Bio 45
has no flavor.
Objection
overruled.
There was talk
of
"mouthfeel."
On
March 6,
Modelo put on
its
intellectual
property
chief, who
moved from
Mexico City to
St. Louis. He
said at first
he thought
that
Constellation's
Corona Hard
Seltzer might
be a "Big B
Beer," that
is, a malt
beverage. But
then he found
it was sugar
cane, and
outside of the
license.
Constellation's
lawyer's
repeated
objection were
overruled.
The
case is
Cerveceria
Modelo de
Mexico, S. de
R.L. de C.V.
v. CB Brand
Strategies,
LLC et al.,
21-cv-1317
(Kaplan)
***
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