Hofbräuhaus and Hofbrauhaus have come to an agreement in the legal dispute over their names. The district court in Munich I announced on Thursday that both parties had reached a settlement. The court did not explain exactly what the agreement would look like. There is a confidentiality agreement on the content of the settlement.
The grocer John Scheller, who operates four grocery stores in the Dresden area, secured the so-called word and figurative trademark for “Dresdner Hofbrauhaus” from the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) in 2011. Hofbräu Munich filed an objection to the trademark application. Since no agreement could be reached, Hofbräu Munich also filed a civil lawsuit.
At the hearing on February 22, the court suggested that the people of Dresden could omit the “Hof” and just call themselves the brewery. The people of Dresden had suggested that the people of Munich pay them half a million euros for not registering the trademark – the Hofbräu lawyer had rejected this in the process, however. Following the court’s suggestion, a conversation was sought with the people of Dresden, said Hofbräu spokesman Stefan Hempl. “Following the protracted dispute to defend its well-known trademark and label rights, Hofbräu Munich is very pleased with the positive conclusion of this trademark infringement case,” the brewery said.
The people of Munich had argued that the confusion of the name was one hundred percent, especially in the international arena. In many languages there is no “äu” – for foreign guests the internationally renowned Munich Hofbräuhaus is a “Hofbrauhaus”. This is also the Internet address of licensed offshoots of the Munich original in the USA, for example in Las Vegas.