battle of the brands Dec. 6, 2023

The Yellowstone Coffee Brands Have Beef

Portrait of Bethy Squires

By Bethy Squires, a Vulture news blogger who covers comedy

Photo: Paramount+/YouTube

It’s a battle of the brands! Literally, the lawsuit is about logos that look like cattle brands. Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch is suing Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser’s Free Rein coffee for trademark infringement. According to the suit, obtained by San Angelo Live, Bosque Ranch feels Free Rein’s logo (an F and R overlapping) too closely resembles their logo (a B and R overlapping) and could potentially confuse consumers. Bosque Ranch has been using that logo since 2004, and was registered federally in 2020. In 2022, Hauser bought Longhorn Coffee Co. alongside Karl Pfluger, Aron Marquez and Paul Anderson. Bosque Ranch launched their own coffee in June 2023, and a few months later, Free Rein coffee emerged with its new logo. Bosque Ranch is seeking an injunction against Free Rein, as well as damages and profits from the company.

The logos for both Bosque Ranch and Free Rein appear to be inspired by cattle brands. They fall into a western-adjacent logosphere with Walt Disney’s Smoke Tree Ranch. You smoosh all the important letter together, which is also how you make sigils in chaos magic. The Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association has a guide on how to read/design cattle brands that includes such options as giving your logo little feet (said to be “walking”) or turning a number on its side (called “lazy.”) These flourishes help avoid exactly this type of fussin’ and feudin’.

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The Yellowstone Coffee Brands Have Beef

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