Sazerac filed its suit (pdf) against Caribbean Distillers at the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Louisville Division on Wednesday, February 15.

The alcohol business said trade dress and trademarks for itsFireball brand of whisky had been infringed and diluted by Caribbean Distillers.

Sazerac uses the slogan “Tastes like heaven, burns like hell” for its Fireball whisky. The company has marketed and sold distilled spirits in the US under its ‘Fireball’ trademark since early 2001.

The Fireball alcoholic drink is a cinnamon-flavoured Canadian whisky and has some of Sazerac’s “most well-known” trade dress and marks.

Sazerac owns a number of marks for the term ‘Fireball’ at the US Patent and Trademark Office and they cover goods such as liqueurs, whisky and cocktails.

According to the suit, Caribbean Distillers has infringed Sazerac’s marks and trade dress through its cinnamon-flavoured whisky product Mad Hen.

Sazerac argued that Caribbean Distillers’ Mad Hen product is “substantially similar” to its ‘Fireball’ trade dress.

“Mad Hen is golden brown in colour, cinnamon flavoured, and marketed in clear bottles of identical flask and featuring the same colour combination as Sazerac’s ‘Fireball’ trade dress,” the suit said.

The colour combination is orange-yellow, red and black.

Sazerac asked for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial, among others.

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