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"Pure Genius"? Guinness and Trade Mark Protection, c.1890-1914

Lookup NU author(s): Professor David Higgins

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Abstract

This chapter explains how Arthur Guinness, Son & Co, protected its trade marks before 1914. By the late nineteenth century, Guinness’ Extra Stout, and Foreign Extra Stout, had acquired an unrivalled reputation in Irish, British and global markets. This stout was supplied in casks to a diverse range of independent bottlers who applied labels on bottles containing this stout. Because Guinness did not own a tied estate, or bottle its own products before 1914, its stouts were especially vulnerable to misrepresentation by bottlers. Some export bottlers misrepresented the Guinness brand using their own labels. To address these problems, and to protect the reputation of its stouts, Guinness obtained intelligence from its network of agents which permitted an appraisal of the costs and benefits of litigation, as well as sending stern letters to the export bottlers. One aspect of the company’s defence which was unique was the Trade Mark Label Agreement (TMLA): signatories to this agreement were forbidden to supply the ‘brown beers’ (stout) of other brewers. The TMLA acted as a double guarantee of quality which was especially valuable because the company eschewed marketing before 1914.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Higgins DM

Editor(s): Robert Bone and Lionel Bently

Publication type: Book Chapter

Publication status: Published

Book Title: Research Handbook on the History of Trade Mark Law

Year: 2024

Pages: 284–326

Print publication date: 15/10/2024

Online publication date: 03/10/2024

Acceptance date: 01/10/2019

Series Title: Research Handbooks in Intellectual Property Series

Publisher: Edward Elgar

Place Published: London

URL: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788973106

DOI: 10.4337/9781788973106

Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item

ISBN: 9781788973090


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