#coldbrewfueralle
In recent weeks, trademark protection on “Cold Brew” caused a wave of indignation among coffee roasters. The J. Hornig GmbH had applied for European trademark protection on the term Cold Brew for different types of packaging and this has been approved.
In general, it is strange that a company can protect a recognized technical term for a coffee-preparation method known since the 17th century. Whether that also works for “filter coffee”? Looks like someone slept at the Patent and Trademark Office or is a tea drinker. Also, the timing is extremely unfavorable for all concerned roasters who either already have Cold Brew products on the market, or just about to stumble, because the stuff is trendy. And nobody wants to print “cold coffee” on his bottle label 😉 With the current trademark protection, J. Hornig can and has already warned companies that use “Cold Brew” for business purposes. So there is now a Facebook group “Cold Brew Abmahnungen durch Hornig” with 136 members.
76 small roasters and cafés have also written an open letter shared by Flying Roasters, Quijote Kaffee, Hot Roasted Love & Co.
Fortunately, yesterday, there was an official statement from J. Hornig, both on the open letter side and directly in the footer of their own website. Here it says:
We have requested the deletion of trademark protection for the word mark “Cold Brew”.
Cheers with some Kold Brew 😉
Coffee