G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc., and Miller Brewing Company, Cross-Appellants v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Cross-Appellee

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that Anheuser-Busch did not establish that LA, which describes a characteristic that it shares with other beers of low alcoholic content produced by other brewers, was a protectible trademark
• noting that the plaintiff had consulted with an advertising agency to discuss its new brand name
• noting that “[t]here is a heavy burden on a trademark claimant to show an independent meaning of the initials apart from the descriptive words which are their source”
• noting that the plaintiff had “already expended many thousands of dollars for product development and the creation of a bottle label and can designs” in addition to “developing a market” for its product
• upholding district court’s conclusion that “prominent house mark ... [and] use of a prominent brand name ... dispelled any significant likelihood of confusion”
• \ 'A merely descriptive term specifically describes a characteristic or ingredient of the goods.' \

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).