Sweetwater Brewing Copyright Fight Over Trout Art Heads to Trial

An artist’s claims that Sweetwater Brewing Co. didn’t own the copyright to its iconic rainbow trout art at the time of the brewer’s $366 million sale will advance toward trial.

Ray Scott Fuss set forth a plausible case that a 1996 oral license to use his art for $500—plus free beer—ended when Sweetwater registered a fraudulent copyright and was sold to Aphria Inc. in 2020, the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia said.

Evidence indicated the parties didn’t believe Sweetwater to have acquired the copyright in 1996, and factual disputes for a jury remain as to other ...