Molson Coors Beverage Co, USA LLC v. Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Lanham Act
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 19-2200 et al. Cons.
Decision Date: 
May 1, 2020
Federal District: 
W.D. Wisc.
Holding: 
Affirmed and reversed in part

In action under section 43 of Lanham Act, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying plaintiff-beer manufacturer's request for injunction to prevent defendant-rival beer manufacturer from misleading consumers by saying that plaintiff's beer "contains corn syrup." Plaintiff identified corn syrup as one ingredient of its beer, and some of plaintiff's own managers acknowledged that its beer "contains" what is on its ingredients list. Accordingly, where word such as "ingredient" has multiple potential meanings, plaintiff cannot enjoin defendant's statements about presence of corn syrup, since it is neither "false" nor "misleading" for seller to say or imply of business rival something that rival says about itself.