Copyright, trademark and patents have been with us for a couple hundred years. They are of great benefit to the little guy who is given a means to create or acquire a defensible property that allows him to protect what for him is a considerable investment in time and treasure. Getting a trademark or patent approved is no easy task.
So it was for the small and independent distillers Charles Tobias (Pussers) and the Gosling family (Goslings).
Pussers Painkiller:
In the case of Tobias a small Caribbean bar he'd visited had created a drink they called the Painkiller. Tobias was taken with the drink, but they wouldn't share the recipe. Challenged, he claimed he could make a better one from scratch using his Pussers Blue Label. After some experimentation he returned to the bar and a contest ensued, with the patrons preferring Tobias' version. With that he negotiated with the bar owner who had no objection to Tobias trademarking his version: the Pusser's Painkiller.
Trust me, this combination of Pussers, fresh pineapple and orange juice, Coco Loco coconut slurry and freshly grated nutmeg is without equal, with the possible exception of the original Zombie or Mai Tai. Still the Painkiller seems more nautical and more hearty.
Gosling's Dark N' Stormy:
Gosling was known as "the Bermuda rum". In those parts it became traditional to make what was commonly called a Dark 'N Stormy using Gosling's Black Seal and Barritt's Ginger Beer, with a squeeze of a fresh lime. As with the Painkiller, this became another signature drink that simply works with those exact ingredients. Knowing a winner when they drank one, the Gosling family decided to apply for trademark protection, and thereby allowing them to invest millions in promoting this signature drink to the rest of the world.
Both drinks are wonderful and worthy, and represent years of time and treasure in promoting them to the world-at-large. Both had the foresight to trademark the drinks to protect their investments.
Trademark is just the beginning...
It goes without saying that when you finally have a winner, that assholes will burst forth and attempt to profit on your hard won success by stealing it. And so it is with the Painkiller and Dark 'N Stormy. As protected by copyright and trademark, these names are rightfully and legally owned, and must be made using either Pussers (Painkiller) or Gosling's Black Seal (Dark 'N Stormy).
Here's the rub. If a trademark goes undefended, the legal protection once earned is lost to the public domain. Ever "xerox" something to make a copy? Xerox risked this fate. You can now make a better xerox (copy) without using a Xerox copier. A once valuable and protected name has become what is called "genericized" and loses it's protection and value. Go ahead, "google" it, lol. Other examples: styrofoam, escalator, plexiglass, kleenex, bandaid, etc.
This is why companies like Bacardi, Coca Cola and MacDonald's are absolutely fanatical about protecting their names. Think Bacardi and Coke or Big Mac. They have invested many millions and are unwilling to allow the Rons come lately to steal or dilute their property.
Nonetheless, assholes abound and some bartenders or recipe websites will substitute a rum other than Bacardi and Pepsi for your "Bacardi and Coke". Or suggest that a dark rum other than Black Seal makes a better "Dark 'N Stormy". Or inadvertantly publish a "Dark 'N Stormy" rum challenge.
Back to the Monkeys...
Recently at the Shillery one of the red-assed monkeys, clearly an Alpha wannabee, published this insult to a group of posters who liked Goslings and were trying to buy it economically. Let's call him Mickey Monkey...
Mickey is referring his fellow monkey who publishes the Inu A Kena (Hawaiin theme by a Californian) website (Link), and who published a "Dark N' Stormy dark rum challenge" - to find out which dark rum made the best "Dark 'N Stormy", a clear violation of Goslings trademark and copyright. When several posters and I pointed out this violation and suggested he change the name to a "Dark Rum and Ginger Beer Challenge" (and to not use Gosling's name), the webmaster found this laughable.Mickey Monkey: Buy something else, Goslings are pricks. Sorry to be crude but they sicked lawyers on a fellow board member after claiming copywrite infringement on the dark'n st&my...
Laughable that is until he received an email from Gosling's New York lawfirm, who cut him some slack and merely demanded that he apologize publicly, remove their name from the article, and make clear that the "Dark 'N Stormy" is owned by Goslings and can only be made with Goslings Black Seal (also trademarked). The webmaster did so, but in a very snarky, "poor me" post and also posted a link to the "cease and desist" email. All designed to gain sympathy from fellow scofflaws.
Among whom Mickey Monkey was one.
The theme: poor little webmaster gets attacked by huge corporation. And Mickey bought and promoted this monkey misrepresentation. Never you mind that Gosling, like Charles Tobias is a very, very small player in a spirits world dominated by true giants like Diageo. Tobias and family Gosling are really the kind of independent quality producers that we all should work hard to support and promote, not to denigrate.
So to the very few who feel that the Goslings are "pricks", to the webmasters who allow this kind of trash talk to remain posted - be ashamed, very ashamed. You only make a monkery of yourselves.
Carry on...
