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EXHIBIT
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Boston Brussels Chicago Dsseldorf Frankfurt Houston London Los Angeles Miami
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Strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices (Shanghai)

Jorge R. Arciniega
Attorney at Law
jarciniega@mwe.com
310.551.9306

December 11, 2014

BY EMAIL ONLY
Mr. Robert K. Carrol
NIXON PEABODY
One Embarcadero Center, 18th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111-3600
Re:

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.s IPA Logo

Dear Robert:
This is in response to your letter of December 5, 2014 addressed to Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada
Brewing Co. (Sierra Nevada). This response is made without admission of any facts or claims asserted
by your client Lagunitas Brewing Company (Lagunitas).
After review and consideration we find your clients allegations of confusing similarity between its IPA
logo and our clients IPA logo to be unfounded. Set forth below are your clients IPA label next to our
clients IPA label for their respective India Pale Ale beverages.

Even at a cursory glance, whether up close or from afar, the two labels are starkly different. A longer
look magnifies the differences.
For example, Lagunitas claims that its IPA logo is unique and distinctive because the lettering has an
aged or weathered look, with uneven areas, broken lines, a unique font, and unique spacing on each of
the letters. Such a look, your client contends, is unique and distinctive such that it could serve as a brand

U.S. practice conducted through McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

2049 Century Park East Suite 3800 Los Angeles California 90067-3218 Telephone: +1 310 277 4110 Facsimile: +1 310 277 4730

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Mr. Robert K. Carrol
December 11, 2014
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identifier, i.e., a source indicator. The lack of any factual support for that proposition in either your or
your clients correspondence is understandable. But assuming for the sake of argument that Lagunitas
logo is protectable as a source indicator, Sierra Nevadas logo does not possess the features that
Lagunitas claims are uniquely its own. Sierra Nevadas lettering is comprised of continuous and fairly
smooth lines, which gives our clients logo a fresh look. There is nothing aged or weathered about it.
Also, there are very notable differences in the styling of the letters in the companies logos, most
distinctively appearing in the letters P and A. Furthermore, Sierra Nevadas superimposing of the
term HOP HUNTER on its IPA lettering is a very significant and prominent feature of its logo design,
as is the placement of its house brand the SIERRA NEVADA banner that is consistent across all of its
beverage offerings.
In response to Lagunitas contention that Sierra Nevada is radically departing from its traditional label
design we attach as Exhibit A examples of Sierra Nevadas traditional label design, which disprove
Lagunitas contention. Exhibit A also shows that the HOP HUNTER name and the SIERRA NEVADA
house brands, which are integral and major components of our clients IPA design, are front and center,
superimposed over the descriptive term IPA. While the logo on the HOP HUNTER neck label might
seem more ghostly or less pronounced in the photograph you provided, Sierra Nevadas bottles all have
a significantly larger label in addition to the neck label. The larger label has nothing ghost-like about it.
The words HOP HUNTER cannot be missed. Thus, your clients argument that HOP HUNTER is much
less visible and is unlikely to be seen by a consumer is unsupported by the facts.
Lets turn to the other design elements that Lagunitas claims to be unique to it.
1.

Kerning/Letter Spacing: Your letter claims that your clients logo has unique kerning, or letter
spacing, between the letters P and A. This is not true. Exhibit B shows that several thirdparty India Pale Ale labels appear to also have similar spacing in the IPA lettering. Putting it
mildly, your client would be hard-pressed to prove its choice of kerning as unique. Even if it
were the case that your client were the only bottler that used that spacing, unique spacing is
insufficient to serve as a brand identifier.

2.

Elimination of Periods: Your letter claims that the elimination of periods between the letters is
also unique to your clients design. However, Exhibit B shows that a number of third-party India
Pale Ale labels do not use periods in the IPA lettering. Therefore, it is inarguable that there is
nothing unique about your clients elimination of periods.

3.

Placement: Your letter claims that your client is well-known for using its distinctive IPA
lettering in a manner that it is the center and focal point of the overall design. Again, the facts
belie your clients assertion. Exhibit B shows that a number of third-party India Pale Ale labels
feature the IPA lettering prominently in very large fonts in the center and as the focal point of
their labels, whereas their house names or brands are shown in much smaller text and in
distinctively different font style. Because the kind of composition used by other competitors is
very similar to that of your clients label, there is nothing unique about your clients placement of
the IPA lettering on its label.

To sum up, most of the design elements that your client claims to be uniquely identifiable with your client
are not unique at all indeed, they seem quite commonly used by others. To the extent that alleged aged

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Mr. Robert K. Carrol
December 11, 2014
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or weathered look is suggestive of your clients IPA (a point that we do not concede, having not
researched this), our clients design differs materially from your clients design in that aspect, as our
clients logo does not have a weathered or worn look: Sierra Nevadas look is fresh and conveys a
different overall commercial impression from that of your clients product. It is our belief that no
appreciable number of consumers is likely to be confused about the source of Sierra Nevadas IPA.
Sierra Nevada very much remains interested in an amicable resolution of this dispute, but finds itself at a
loss as to what it should suggest where it did not intend to engage in any wrongdoing and apparently did
nothing wrongful. I welcome speaking directly with you at your convenience.
Sincerely yours,
Jorge Arciniega
Jorge Arciniega
Exhibits A and B sent under separate emails
Copy: Ken Grossman / Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

EXHIBIT A
[see separate email]
EXHIBIT B
[see separate email]

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EXHIBIT B

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