Cheers to Adam Milne, the Portland business owner who successfully fought back the city's attempts over the past four years to bully him out of his beer logo.
Milne grew up in the Portland area and celebrated the first of several birthdays at Old Town Pizza when he was 9. He bought the Northwest Portland eatery in 2003 and later opened a second location in Northeast, where he established a small-batch brewery.
Then, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive's Jessica Floum, he secured trademark rights from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the image of the former White Stag - now "Portland Oregon" - sign near his downtown location.
In other words, he followed the rules.
That, it would turn out, infuriated city officials, who doggedly attempted to undo Milne's work to "protect the sign as a landmark." Or more accurately, their ability to cash in on the iconic sign it had received as a donation.
Ramsey Signs had donated the neon leaping deer to the city in 2010. The city soon began making money marketing the logo on clothing and various other products. But city officials wanted to go after beer, wine and alcohol deals, too. As Floum reported, they soon discovered that the weaker state process they'd used to secure trademark rights couldn't override Milne's federal protection.
That didn't stop them. Despite being rejected multiple times by the feds, city officials continued to fight, ultimately racking up around $41,000 in legal bills.
Now we're all for the city being creative in looking for ways to lure in new revenue.
It's reasonable and responsible for officials to offset their ever-increasing costs by taking advantage of our acclaim as a top tourism town. In fact, Michael Cox, a spokesman for the Mayor Ted Wheeler, says that ultimately, the money spent trying to land the Old Town logo with the private trademark attorney was "vastly outpaced" by the revenues the attorney helped gain through the other licensing efforts.
Great, but let's not beat down small businesses to get there. That was the same message Wheeler heard last month from about 50 representatives of other local restaurants, bars and hotels.
Thankfully, on Monday, Wheeler announced that he'd called off the offensive. He made the right move and met with Milne and the two worked out a five-year deal. The city won't chase after the licensing, and Old Town Brewing will generously allow the city to use the logo for local booze-related events and for advertising local trade organizations.
Hopefully they signed off on the deal with a cold Shanghai'd IPA. And put it on Wheeler's tab.
-- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board
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