"Kentucky Bourbon Trail" Battle Ends In Settlement

{Louisville, Kentucky}...The legal battle over the "Kentucky Bourbon Trail" has ended in a settlement berween Sazerac Co. and the Kentucky Distillers' Association. The two reached a confidential agreement over the phrase used in promotions for central Kentucky distilleries, just six weeks before the case was set for trial in U.S. District Court in Louisville. The dispute started in summer of 2009, when Sazerac applied for a trademark and copyright on the phrase "Buffalo Trace Distillery on the Bourbon Trail" and "Tom Moore Distillery on the Bourbon Trail." The Distillers' Association sued New Orleans-based Sazerac in May 2010, accusing the company of violating the trademarks on the phrase "Kentucky Bourbon Trail" and logos by using similar phrases and designs in promoting two central Kentucky distilleries not affiliated with the association. Sazerac countersued, asking a judge to cancel the association's trademarks on the "Kentucky Bourbon Trail" phrase, saying the group abandoned legal claims by not seeking to protect it. Sazerac - which owns Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, the 1792 Distillery in Bardstown (which used to be known as Tom Moore Distillery) and Glenmore Distillery in Owensboro - was once a member of the Kentucky Distillers' Association, but resigned from the nonprofit, Frankfort-based group in December 2009 after being unable to settle the dispute over the trademarks.