A charity that campaigns against alcohol abuse has partly lost a trademark case around its use of the term “dry January”.
A ruling from the Intellectual Property Office found that Alcohol Change UK did not have the right to prevent other organisations using the phrase in certain circumstances.
The charity, which retains a trademark over the use of the phrase from an earlier application, applied to widen the scope of the trademark in October 2020.
This application was opposed by Big Drop Brewing, a manufacturer of alcohol-free beer, which said the term was already widely used and could not be trademarked.
In response to the case, the charity said it had run campaigns based on dry January marketing “for many years”.
The ruling says: “The applicant [ACUK] states that it coined the trade mark and that it is associated with the applicant’s activities.
“It states that it has taken steps to prevent third parties making unauthorised use of its trade mark and has licensed the use of its mark to some third parties.
“The applicant states that it is a charity which promotes the management of alcohol consumption and has run a campaign and provided related services and merchandise under its dry January brand for many years.”
The tribunal judgment noted the wide and general use of the term “dry January” when making the ruling.
“It is reasonable to assume that other traders will use the words in marketing a promotion for their drinks, eg at a retailer, in a pub, restaurant or café, for consumers to enjoy whilst having a dry January,” says the ruling.
The judgment added that use of the term dry January “in relation to drinks, the sale of or the provision of which assist that endeavour, would not be seen as a trade mark” and Big Drop Brewery’s objection “extends to food as well as beverages”.
Richard Piper, chief executive of Alcohol Change UK, said the charity was disappointed with “inaccurate reporting” of the case, which made its trademark “more difficult for brands to understand”.
Piper said: “This ruling made no change to Alcohol Change UK’s ability to protect the unregistered right acquired in our brand under the common law of ‘passing off’, for example by any company that chose to name a product, for example, the ‘Dry January Pale Ale’.
“The fact that references to our Dry January programme by alcohol-free or low-alcohol drinks producers or retailers are still protected by the original 2013 registration, for example implying ‘This drink will help you with the Dry January programme’ or using ‘#dryjanuary’ next to their product in a manner which indicates that Alcohol Change UK has authorised that use or the product is associated with our programme.”
The charity was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs to Big Drop Brewing following the ruling.
ACUK declined to confirm how much it had spent on the case.
Piper said: “As a small UK charity, we spend a tiny amount on legal fees to secure the trade mark and there was no court case in this instance.
“Ultimately, by spending our money wisely, we’ve secured our ability to continue to raise funds through corporate partnerships and grow our small team – increasing the campaigns we run to end alcohol harm in the UK.”