Distilleries battle for Peaky Blinders trademark approval

Bushmills has applied for approval to make a Peaky Blinders-themed whiskey, despite a five-year legal dispute rumbling on between Sadler’s Brewhouse and the production company for the hit Netflix show.

Irish whiskey producer Bushmills could be launching a Peaky Blinders-inspired whiskey after applying to approve a label for the product.

Proximo Spirits, which owns Bushmills, made the application to the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau in January 2022.

Caryn Mandabach Productions, which produces the hit Neflix series about the flatcap-wearing gang, is thought to be mentioned on the proposed Bushmills label, which also allegedly says the whiskey is licensed by series distributor Banijay Group.

The application follows on from a five-year scuffle between Caryn Mandabach Productions and Sadler’s Brewhouse, over the use of the Peaky Blinders name on their range of themed beers, gin, rum and whisky.

In 2017, the brewery, based in Stourbridge in Birmingham’s industrial Black Country, where the notorious Peaky Blinders gang operated in the 1900s, applied to the Intellectual Property Office for a US trademark for its Peaky Blinders products. It also had plans to create its own Peaky Blinders Distillery and Bar.

However, Caryn Mandabach Productions caught wind of this and sent a stern warning letter to Sadler’s in 2018. The rebuke came despite the former owner of Sadler’s being a descendent of a real Peaky Blinders gang member. It’s rumoured that those belonging to the criminal enterprise used to drink in the brewery’s venues, which was what inspired the launch of its branded products.

Regardless of ancestral associations, the TV show’s production company later sued the brewhouse for trademark infringement, asking the court for an injunction to stop Sadler’s Ale from selling its products.

This injunction was denied last year, with a judge ruling that Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd was not able to prove that it owned a protectable trademark in the name, that Sadler’s Brewhouse Ltd’s products were likely to cause confusion, or that the alleged confusion caused it irreparable harm.

The judge argued Mandabach would not be “irreparably harmed without an injunction”, noting that it waited over two years to sue and nearly three years to request an injunction after sending Sadler’s the warning letter.

As Timothy Geigner, who reports on trademark disputes around the alcohol industry, said at the time: “A great deal of this hinges on the show’s own decision to use the name of a historically famous real life street gang as its show name. The idea that this slice of history could be locked up by a television show and prohibit its use in a totally unrelated market flies in the face of the purpose of trademark law.

Earlier this month, The Sun revealed that the production company has its own plans to open a line of Peaky Blinders-themed bars and restaurants.