Kentucky Mist Moonshine Lawsuit Dismissed
By Richard Thomas
Kentucky Mist Moonshine, a micro-distillery based in the coal mining town of Whitesburg, Kentucky, suffered a major blow in its trademark battle with the University of Kentucky (UK) last Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves dismissed Kentucky Mist’s lawsuit against UK over the use of the word “Kentucky” on clothing on June 23, ruling that the university had sovereign immunity shielding it from the suit.
Kentucky Mist originally filed the lawsuit last year in response to UK threatening them with legal action over their efforts to trademark their name and design elements. At the time it was sometimes reported that the university was simply asserting a claim on the very word “Kentucky,” but the truth was more complicated, and in fact UK was asserting its registration to a combination of elements that it believed Kentucky Mist was infringing on.
The feud looked like it was heading to a negotiated settlement in December, but those negotiations failed and Kentucky Mist went back to court. The micro-distillery is now considering it’s options.
