It's campaign season here in the US, and The Rum Project is no exception. Our most recent obsession is with the notion of trademarked signature drinks, particularly family Gosling's "Dark 'N Stormy" and Pusser's "Painkiller".
The first foray was a fascinating exchange with "Josh" of the Ina a Kena rum blog (link). He'd published a "Dark & Stormy Challenge" that proposed a contest among seven different dark rums to see which made the "best Dark and Stormy". Just one problem - that's illegal. A vigorous discussion ensued, with moi and one other poster arguing in favor of the law and of the morality of respecting property rights, and Josh. What happened?
Josh received a "cease and desist" letter from a New York law firm. Check the link above, it is truly amazing!
So what about Emeril?
In doing my usual due diligence, I decided to check around the net just to see how many other scofflaws there were. The answer: not many. Most drinks sites are careful to respect Gosling's and Pusser's rights - only a few of the smaller sites are less careful. But I found one glaring exception:
The Food Network, featuring Emeril Lagasse's "Painkiller".
And then???
Emeril's "Painkiller" was an exact rip of the original and trademarked Pusser's Painkiller, with one exception. Emeril had specified "2 oz of dark rum" and failed to specify Pusser's. To be honest I was very surprised that such a large and visible site and famous Chef would make such a bush league error. So like Ina a Kena, I dropped them an email questioning why. Mind you, I had no illusions about actually getting a reply, as I find the large corporations tend not to respond, or simply send a canned "thank you for your interest" kind of reply.
To my great surprise, I actually got a focused reply:
But then I heard nothing. So be it, I thought. Then a day later I decided to check back and made yet another astonishing discovery. The page had changed!"Hello and thank you for your feedback on the Food Network!
We have passed your e-mail along to our legal department for review. Either I or someone from that department will get back in touch with you in this regard. Thank you for bringing this to our attention and have a great day!"
1. The page and recipe were now modified and entitled "Rum Punch Painkiller" (not just "Painkiller"). Here's the (link).
2. The recipe was also altered and significantly different from Pusser's Painkiller, and was now more akin to a punch, but even so...
3. It specifically specified "Pusser's rum".
A victory for Charles Tobias, and one which I totally applaud. Most folks don't realize just how small Pusser's really is. As so well put by Tobias "...we gross about as much as a medium-sized, big city bar". Not to mention Pusser's still donates half - yes, half! - of their profits to the British Royal Navy Seaman's fund.
Pussers is really a labor of love by a man who loved British Navy Rum enough to keep this historical rum alive. God bless Charles Tobias and the family Gosling. As lovers of rum we have both the legal and moral duty to support these hard working small distillers, who have invested considerable time and treasure to build their brands, and who have managed to stay independent from Diageo and friends.
Up spirits!
