Zuidam Distillery Avoids Legal Action

The Zuidam Distillery in Holland has managed to avoid further legal action from Berry Bros. and Rudd by agreeing to change the name of its rum ‘Flying Dutchman No.3’. The distillery was threatened by the UK-based wine and spirits supplier back in April. Lawyers representing Berry Bros. and Rudd said the rum breached the company’s international trademark of ‘No.3’.

TradeMarks Australia told Savant Spirits, which imports and distributes Flying Dutchman here that Berry Bros. and Rudd had the right to dispute the trademark No.3 within gin, but not necessarily rum. Both Savant Spirits and the Zuidam Distillery also argued that major brands like Bundaberg, Jack Daniel’s and Pimms had all used ‘No.3’ in the naming of their products, but had not been pursued by Berry Bros and Rudd.

Despite sound arguments, the distillery has decided to change the name of its rum to avoid legal action.

Patrick Van Zuidam who is Master Distiller and operator of the distillery told drinks bulletin, “We still disagree with BBR about the validity of its No.3 trademark, specifically we think it should be impossible to trademark generic terms as No.3.”

“But, we are a family owned and operated distillery that has always had very friendly relationships with all of our colleagues in the business, big and small,” he continued. “And as such we agreed with BBR to change the labels after a friendly and amicable talk.”

“We don’t want to spend time and energy on a silly subject as a name. Time and energy that should be spend in trying to distill the best products in our business.”

The rum will be rebranded through the new labels as ‘Flying Dutchman Number 3’.

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