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News
War of the White Rose
A bitter war of the roses is being waged between two Yorkshire breweries.
The Cropton Brewery in Cropton, North Yorkshire, was threatened with legal action by Samuel Smith’s brewery after it adorned its bottles of Yorkshire Warrior Ale with a white rose.
Samuel Smith’s issued a writ claiming that the label on the beer, which had been brewed to raise money for the Yorkshire Regiment Benevolent Fund, was “confusingly similar” to the white rose used by Samuel Smith since the 1960s.
Cropton denied Smith’s claim of trademark infringement, saying the rose is a common symbol of the region and that no one business can claim monopoly of its use.
However, despite a Facebook campaign calling beer drinkers to boycott both Sam Smith’s pubs and beer, Cropton has been forced to back down and change the logo – replacing the rose with a shield on pump clips.
The potential costs of a legal dispute threatened plans to expand the brewery. Throughout the dispute, the notoriously private Samuel Smith’s refused to comment.
Ben McFarland, 29.10.2010
Samuel Smith makes excellent beer and is available to me here in Oregon, USA. However, having proudly worn the White Rose as my cap badge while serving in the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire, I see NO justification in Sam Smith’s claim to exclusive ownership of the White Rose emblem.
A battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment carried a black flag with a White Rose emblem in the first wave of the landings on the Normandy Beaches on D Day. It was not done to advertise Sam Smith but as a symbol of Yorkshire!
Sam Smith is shooting itself in the foot and should learn some humility, even though humility is not one of Yorkshire’s traits.
I, for one, will refrain from the joy of sampling Sam’s products until it has ceased and desisted from this stupidity.