Craft brewers, creating beer at a value of over £136 million in sales, need to safeguard their trademarks, brand names, trade secrets, and designs due to increasing competition in the marketplace.

With craft beer sales up by 48 per cent in the past 12 months and 4.6 million homes across the UK now indulging in their favourite tipple, you need to protect your brand.

The surge in popularity of craft beers and ales has created a highly competitive marketplace for new brewers. Alongside the threat of copycats, the brewing boom could spark a rise in brands accidentally copying or infringing an existing label.

New brewers need to carry out thorough research into existing brands from the start, to prevent them facing a disastrous rebrand and product recall at a later stage.

Now, more than ever, it is essential that craft brewers take action to protect the intellectual property of their unique brand. With such a vast investment made to create and bring the product to the marketplace, you simply cannot afford to take the risk of not doing so.

Intellectual property can help to safeguard your name, flavours, packaging, trade secrets, branding, and even colour scheme.

So, with so many new beers launching at such a rapid pace, we would urge brewers to ensure their product is free to use and protected before it’s too late.

Here are my top tips to protecting intellectual property in the industry.

Brand Names and Logos

Brand names and logos are often the most recognisable aspect of a craft beer and undoubtedly the first thing a customer will see on the shelf.

As a result of their clear value in relation to the brand’s identity, it is essential that brewers carry out thorough trade mark clearance searches from the start. This will ensure they are not infringing an existing brand. Once this is ascertained, they can then protect themselves by filing a trade mark application.

By doing so, the brewer has confirmed they are free to use the mark as well as creating a monopoly in a lucrative marketplace. Filing a trademark will strengthen their position against any challenging competitors seeking to create similar beers, which if unprotected, could damage their profit potential and reputation.

Filing an application will also help to secure the owners’ ability to freely use the name without the fear of having to rebrand, as well as preventing third parties from obtaining the IP rights to their original brand and selling the product themselves. Ultimately it will protect the craft brewer against fierce competition and allow them to benefit from the investment.

Labels and packaging

With competition rife and demand evolving – it’s vital for products to set themselves apart in the busy marketplace.

Packaging does just this by creating a unique image and appearance for the brand, which drives sales and influences consumers.

Brewers can protect their product’s packaging by filing trade marks for the labels themselves, or through filing registered designs.

This intellectual property right also extends to the appearance of the brand’s tap handles and glassware, protecting them against would-be copycats.

Investing in packaging may seem costly, but it is nothing compared to the loss of profit resulting from infringement by competitors, or having to rebrand.

Brewers should ensure they are free to use the brand and protect the product’s IP at an early stage. By doing this it will ensure the owner doesn’t accidentally infringe an existing brand while also  securing protection in case of  potential copycats.

Trade secrets

Trade secrets are essential to safeguarding one of the most crucial aspects of any brewer’s identity.

By keeping information about the manufacturing, recipe, or commercial aspects of your company under wraps, a niche market is created for that product, while also preventing third parties from stealing your secrets.

When it comes to the craft beer industry, one of its most valuable trade secrets is its brewing formula, which helps to set each individual brand apart. The formula ensures that the beer’s flavour is unique and recognisable and attracts consumers time and time again.

The most famous example of a well-guarded – and highly profitable – trade secret recipe, is that of Coca Cola.

Failure to protect the brewing formula could see it duplicated by a competitor, leading to similar products entering the marketplace, and ultimately, a loss of profit for the creator.

In the UK, in order for something to be deemed a trade secret, it must be proved that the information has a quality of confidence, i.e. it cannot be obtained freely; that the information was disclosed in confidence; and that is has been disclosed without permission.

Many trade secrets are inadvertently, or deliberately leaked by current or ex-employees, so it’s essential that a confidentiality clause protecting any sensitive information is written into employee contracts.