Brewery settles trademark dispute

Brewery settles trademark dispute

Pigeon Hill Brewing received a cease-and-desist letter from the music group LMFAO over the name of a beer. Photo via fb.com

A brewery says its trademark battle with an electronic-dance group has “reached its conclusion.”

Pigeon Hill Brewing Co. in Muskegon posted on its social media channels yesterday that its legal dispute with the music group LMFAO has been settled: The brewery can continue to use LMFAO for its LMFAO Stout.

This week’s conclusive post says: “We are pleased to announce that after a few weeks of genuinely good conversations between Sheila (our wonderful attorney) and Thilo (the attorney representing LMFAO, the band), the LMFAO Stout saga has reached its conclusion. We can’t go into more details, but we can say that:

1. We’ve reached an agreement that works well for us.

2. LMFAO Stout is here to stay.

3. We still really like Thilo. Seriously, he is awesome. We want to buy him a beer.

4. We wouldn’t have come this far without your support. Thank you all. You make the long days worth every moment.”

Pigeon Hill Brewing co-owner Michael Brower declined to comment further.

The legal discussion began about two months ago when the group sent the brewery a cease-and-desist letter, because the name of the stout was “likely to confuse people and dilute their band.”

Pigeon Hill Brewing owners and Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge attorney Sheila Eddy responded with about a month ago and took further discussions private.

“We knew that we had to fight,” Brower said at the time. “Win or lose, we represent the small craft breweries who just want to sell great beer without being bossed around unfairly — and we don’t want to be the guys who set the wrong example.”