Kentucky Mist Moonshine lawsuit dismissed

A US judge has dismissed a trademark lawsuit brought by Kentucky Mist Moonshine against the University of Kentucky.

Despite the recent ruling, representatives of Kentucky Mist Moonshine claim “the case isn’t over”

In October last year, the University of Kentucky (UK) threatened to sue Kentucky Mist Moonshine after the Whitesburg-based distillery attempted to trademark the Kentucky Mist logo for items of clothing.

The university sent a letter claiming that it had “trademarked” the word ‘Kentucky’ on clothing since 1997, and that its use on Kentucky Mist Moonshine clothing would cause “deception, confusion and mistake”.

Weeks later, the distillery in turn launched legal action against UK, asking US District Court to either invalidate or “reform” the university’s registration of the trademark.

The suit claims that Kentucky Mist Moonshine should be permitted to register the trademark since it does not dilute that of UK, adding that Kentucky is a geographical location and a word used by numerous businesses, brands and organisations not affiliated with UK.

However, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that US District Judge Danny Reeves has dismissed the suit, accusing Kentucky Mist of “attempting to create a controversy”.

While UK said it was “pleased” with the ruling, Kentucky Mist described the result as “narrow” and said “the case isn’t over”.