Drinks giant sues small family firm over right to use historic county emblem on its bottles

A micro-brewery in Yorkshire could never have imagined that modern-day conflicts in the Middle East and further afield could trigger a new War of the Roses back home

But that was before the eye of another brewer settled on the white rose label of one of the country’s smaller ale producers – and saw red.

The family-owned Cropton Brewery, behind the New Inn at Cropton, near Pickering, set out to market its Yorkshire Warrior Ale in support of the fighting men and women of the Yorkshire Regiment.

The brewery is not even a limited company and bosses admit that trademark issues, the finer points of copyright, and corporate legislation are not their strongest suit.

But since the regiment had given its permission to use the white rose from its cap badge – issued to the regiment by the Queen – they saw nothing wrong in sticking it on the label of its bottles of Yorkshire Warrior.

Unfortunately, Tadcaster-based Samuel Smith’s, which also uses a white rose emblem, disagreed.

Rather than settle things over a couple of pints, they responded with a writ - which could jeopardise the future of what had been a thriving little business.

That’s not to mention the 25 jobs that also depend on the family firm staying in business after the court hearing, set for July next year.

Cropton general manager Andy Davidson said: “I don’t know why they didn’t just ring us up. We could have settled it over a few pints.

“Instead, they had to go down the legal route which has landed us with hefty legal bills and is jeopardising the business.”

Mr Davidson cannot discuss the number of figures attached to the compensation claim.

But he does admit that the company’s initial demand – to destroy all the bottles, labels and merchandise and reimburse Samuel Smith’s for all lost sales for breach of copyright – would have stretched the small brewery beyond breaking point.

The brewery has so far raised 15,000 for the Yorkshire Regiment under its initiative which began when bosses realised that office workers suffering repetitive strain injury could get more compensation than soldiers who had lost a limb serving their country.

But Mr Davidson says they now have to fight the case – simply because they cannot afford to lose, and because they do not want to let down the Yorkshire Regiment by losing a valuable fundraising brand.

Plans for a national roll-out of the product to supermarkets have had to be delayed because of the case, leaving 100,000 labels waiting either to be stuck onto bottles or destroyed depending on the outcome.

The owner of Cropton Brewery, Phil Lee, was inspired to raise cash for brave army heroes after his brother Paul, 42, returned from the first Gulf War and Bosnia.

Shocked by low payouts for injured servicemen, he linked up with the Yorkshire Regiment and launched the 4.4 per cent Yorkshire Warrior ale in 2008, with most of the profits going to the regiment’s benevolent fund.

The bottles and beer pump clips feature their emblem – a lion carrying the standard of St George – and the beverage became a hit with drinkers, boosting the regiment’s coffers by some 10,000 to which the New Inn added 5,000 worth of hospitality events.

So Mr Lee was stunned to receive a writ from Samuel Smith’s threatening High Court action over the white rose emblem, which featured below the regimental standard.

Smith’s said the flower is “confusingly similar” to the white rose they have used since the 1960s – and the ongoing legal battle has meant that Cropton has been unable to manufacture the popular beer for fear of it being withdrawn.

Mr Lee, 40, said: “We think it’s absolutely ludicrous. It’s totally unreasonable for Samuel Smith’s to claim ownership of the white rose of Yorkshire which is used by many other breweries, and other companies in general.

“Paul served with the Royal Engineers during the first Gulf War and in Bosnia, so it is a subject which is particularly close to my heart.”

No one was available to comment on the matter from Samuel Smith’s.

A committee member for the Yorkshire Society, Rod Scholes, said: “The white rose belongs to Yorkshire.

“The rose per se does not belong to anybody – it belongs to everybody. Anyway, the two roses look nothing like each other.”

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