BART vs BART: Bay Area Transit Blocks Beer Company's Trademark, Citing Confusion

TRUCKEE (CBS13) — A local brew is creating quite a buzz after a brewmaster's dream of creating aged beer in Truckee turned into a legal fight with the Bay Area's transit system over the name of his beer.

FiftyFifty Brewing is a small, family-owned company, so small that its beers are sold out in stores. The owner wanted to ramp up production, but he was suddenly thrown off track.

Andy Barr is the brains behind the Truckee company. The beers stand out with names like Foggy Goggle, Evil on Jack, and the most popular, Barrel Aged, Really Tasty, or BART for short.

When he wanted to produce more of the last one, he applied for a trademark. But the other BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, filed a letter of opposition, ordering FiftyFifty to lay off its trademark.

"They're concerned that there's confusion between the two brands or some diminishment of their brand?" Barr said.

BART sent a statement to CBS13, reading in part, "Use of the BART name by unauthorized parties for commercial gain, whether or not they are in the rapid-transit business, is a violation of trademark law."

So how does a name get so much power?

John Costello, a Sacramento attorney who specializes in helping companies trademark ideas, says it comes down to superiority. BART the beer has been around for a couple of years, while BART the transit company has been around for decades.

"I think it's a matter of who's the 800-pound gorilla here, and BART will partly prevail on that ground. Not necessarily because they're right," he said.

He says a case like this isn't unheard of. With so many breweries out there, all of the good names are taken and the next step is often legal.

But when time came to name his brew, Barr says he never intended to violate another trademark. In fact, the beer is named after the original brewer's dog, not a transit system.

Barr says he doesn't want to, but he's ready to go to court with Bart the transit system to name Bart the beer after Bart the dog.

"I have no interest in fighting anybody especially a large organization like that, but we're also not going to give up," he said.

The owner says he still expects BART beer to be on store shelves by May 1.