Profs and Pints DC presents: “Trademarks and Tippling,” a look at how trademark law influences what’s in your glass and what it’s called, with Amanda Levendowski, associate professor of law and director of the Intellectual Property and Information Policy Clinic at Georgetown Law.
Do you ever wonder why your favorite TV characters knock back beers that you’ve never heard of? Did you know that there’s only one legal way bartenders can make five famous cocktails and the legal Dark 'N Stormy must contain Gosling's rum? Have you considered what penalties await those who sell you mere sparkling wine and call it “Champagne”?
Lean into the “pints” part of Profs and Pints with a talk that explores the intersection of mixology and trademark law. Come curious and leave with fun facts that could dazzle your next date or fellow guests at a dinner party.
Amanda Levendowski, the speaker who will be serving up knowledge about libations and legislation, is a longtime cocktail enthusiast with more than a decade of experience in intellectual property law.
She’ll start by briefly steeping us in trademark law, discussing how words, phrases, symbols, designs, and combinations of such things can identify specific beverage brands and limit not just what is sold under those brands but how those brands are used. You’ll learn how one of the earliest Supreme Court cases dealing with trademark centered on an iconic liquor, and what happens when booze bumps up against bureaucracy in the form of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria.
From there, you'll learn how trademark rules around infringement, registration, and geographic indication explain quirky phenomena like proprietary cocktails, those fake beers on TV, and the consensus that the only authentic Champagne comes from a specific part of France.
Finally, you’ll learn how to properly make those five cocktails with trademark registrations. Cheers! (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: A Sazerac cocktail at the Sazerac bar in the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Photo by Infrogmation / Wikimedia Commons