Unified Brewing runs into trademark entanglements before it even opens

Unified Brewing is slated to open in White Center, taking over and completely remodeling the building that was former the home of Big Al Brewing. A highly anticipated new brewery, the brain trust behind this one are a familiar collection of beer Illuminati: former brewery from Elysian, owner of Pinebox, Seattle Beer Week people, all that good stuff. No word yet on an estimated opening date, but we’ll share it when we know it.

In the meantime, we do have news to share from the brewery formerly known as Unified Brewing.

A while back the folks at Unified Brewing were made aware of another brewery-in-planning back east that shared the name Unified. Unified Beerworks of Malta, New York made it clear to White Center’s Unified Brewing that they had already filed to register a trademark on the word unified as it applies to beer. Apparently they didn’t want to play nice, as the statement below suggests.

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With that, the brewery formerly known as Unified Brewing decided to change its name. I will let them tell the story, just know that the new brewery coming to White Center will now go by the name Future Primitive Brewing Company.

Here’s the statement from the Unified Brewing’s, uh, Future Primitive Brewing’s Facebook page:

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You may have heard, through one avenue or other, that Unified Brewing has been more or less politely encouraged to relinquish its name in order to avoid potential conflict with another company. They are yet to open in another market, but had filed for a trademark deemed too similar to ours for the two to coexist without creating confusion.

Embracing the full spirit of the word “unified” we would have preferred to seize this dilemma of dubious impact as an opportunity to meet new friends, collaborate on a project, or at the very least share a beer or two as we discussed how best not to interfere with each other in our respective markets. Unfortunately, our counterparts were not available for this type of interaction.

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Call it providence, a silver lining, an opportunity to dig deeper into the collective soul of our vision; but whatever you call it, the happy result for us is a new name that better embodies the energy and passion of its predecessor while more succinctly defining our philosophy, and our place in the greater brewing community as we see it.

As brewers, we strive to realize the veritable Form of beer as Plato might have envisioned. We challenge ourselves every day to improve our processes, source better materials, foster healthier relationships, soldiering forward on an endless march of discovery. In our effort to realize the future, we deeply respect the enduring relevance of our primitive past. As we rediscover old techniques, outdated methods, and forgotten styles, we are reminded that one person’s progress is another’s devolution.

We live within a timeless and necessary dichotomy of old and new, an ever expanding landscape of the well-remembered and the vast unknown. It is here that we find ourselves as Future Primitive Brewing.

www.FuturePrimitiveBeer.com

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