mlive_rockford Rockford Brewing Co. of Rockford, Ill., filed suit in U.S. District Court in Illinois on Jan. 13 against Rockford Brewing Co. of Rockford, Mich. The Illinois brewery is asking to grant the company exclusive rights to the name in connection with restaurant and bar services. A hearing on the case is scheduled for late February, although the parties are currently negotiating a possible settlement, according to Seth Rivard, co-owner of Rockford Brewing Co. in Michigan. “They own zero rights to that name,” said Rivard. “We’d been using it two years before they even started.”
The brewery anchors an ambitious historic redevelopment in the massive 156-year-old, five-story Prairie Street Brewhouse, which includes a banquet space, offices, lofts and a 60-slip marina. The complex is owned by Lloyd and Diane Koch, who bought it in 2000. .
In late November, Rivard and his partners in Michigan sent the Illinois brewery a cease-and-desist letter in protection of their trademark. In the letter, Rivard’s attorneys claim the Michigan brewery was using its mark in commerce as early as Jan. 2012 and “possibly much earlier.” Michigan’s Rockford Brewing Co. formally opened in Dec. 2012, but began selling mug club memberships in 2011.
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