Trademark Disputes? In My Cider?

It was a lovely, sunny weekend for Avid Cider Co. to celebrate its fifth birthday. Carnival rides were humming in the parking lot, bands played, and there was plenty of Avid cider, Avid T-shirts, Avid stickers and Avid sunglasses on offer for everyone. If the name "Avid" sounds unfamiliar, though, it's understandable—until last weekend, the company was called Atlas.

As first announced last month, the Bend area's largest cidery changed its name due to a trademark complaint from a brewer on the other coast. The Bend company filed the name "Atlas Cider" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in early 2013, but just three weeks before that, Washington, D.C.-based Atlas Brew Works filed a trademark for its own brewery. With Atlas Cider expanding across the Northwest, Atlas Brew Works becoming a big regional guy in the Mid-Atlantic area and the two companies' logos undeniably looking a little similar, Atlas Cider decided to change names to Avid instead of risking a costly legal defense in court. (They'll still get to keep the imagery of the Greek deity Atlas on their packaging, however.)

source:

https://www.bendsource.com/bend/trademark-disputes-in-my-cider/Content?oid=6200857