U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal has dismissed Clase Azul’s trademark infringement case against Casa Azul, Forbes reported Tuesday. The ruling from the Southern District of Texas allows both tequilas to continue operating under their respective names, no matter how confusing it might be.
Clase Azul, widely recognized for its iconic bottle shape, first filed the trademark infringement action against Casa Azul in September 2022. According to Forbes, Clase Azul submitted evidence suggesting that there have been several significant mix-ups between the brands. But ultimately, the judge determined that the brands were distinct enough from one another and the case failed “to establish trademark infringement, unfair competition, or trademark dilution,” according to court documents.
The ruling was based on differences in packaging, consumer audience, and the tequila itself. The judge also allegedly called out the differences in quality and production methods between the two brands, as Casa Azul prides itself on being an organic and additive-free single-estate tequila.
“The names have different meanings, the trade dress is radically different, the products are different in that Casa Azul is an organic, additive-free tequila and Clase Azul is not organic and is made with additives like glycerin and artificial sweeteners, they are marketed differently and at different price points, and the Casa Azul name was adopted in good faith,” David Bernstein of Debevoise & Plimpton, counsel to Casa Azul, told Forbes.
Additionally, the judge noted that there was no evidence that Clase Azul’s sales over the past three years were impacted by Casa Azul entering the market.
“This is a decisive legal victory after a hard-fought trial,” Bernstein told Forbes. “Although there are some superficial similarities in the sound of the Casa Azul and Clase Azul names, the court quite properly found after a review of the voluminous evidence that confusion is not likely.”
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