MillerCoors, Stone Both Denied Early Wins Over Keystone Mark

Neither MillerCoors LLC nor Stone Brewing Co. proved that they were entitled to pretrial wins in California federal court on claims surrounding Miller’s use of “Stone” to advertise its Keystone Light beer.

Although they were both “close calls,” Stone didn’t prove it was entitled to summary judgment on its trademark infringement claims, and Miller didn’t prove it had priority to the mark, the Southern District of California said in an opinion entered Monday.

Miller started emphasizing the word “Stone” in advertising and packaging for its Keystone beers in 2017. Stone argues the rebranding effort infringed its trademarks and negatively affected ...