The famed ranch featured on Yellowstone has found itself entangled in legal drama with a coffee brand called Free Rein Coffee Company — coincidentally owned by Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser, who appears on the series as Rip Wheeler.
According to documents obtained by The Messenger, Bosque Ranch — which is owned by Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan — sued the coffee brand in November for trademark infringement, citing unfair competition and false advertising.
The brand, which is attached to Sheridan’s various business and personal endeavors, was “paired with the unique branding mark overlaying the letters B and R (the ‘BR Brand’),” the suit stated. The branding has even been featured on Yellowstone.
In early 2023, Bosque Ranch and Community Coffee Company collaborated to launch “Bosque Ranch Craft Coffee.”
Three months after Sheridan announced Bosque Ranch Craft Coffee, Hauser launched Defendant Free Rein and began selling “Free Rein” coffee, with a branding mark that features two overlapping letters – this time F and R (the “FR Brand”), according to the documents.
“Neither Hauser nor the Defendants asked or received permission or authorization of Sheridan or Bosque Ranch to use a mark confusingly similar to the BR Brand for virtually identical goods,” the documents state. “The FR Brand used by Defendants is confusingly similar to the BR Brand used by Bosque Ranch, and constitutes false and misleading descriptions of fact, or false or misleading representations of fact, which are likely to cause confusion or to cause mistake or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association of the Defendants with Bosque Ranch, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of Defendants’ goods by Bosque Ranch.”
Bosque Ranch is demanding a trial by jury and is asking the court to permanently stop Free Rein from continuing to use the FR Brand, destroy all products, marketing, and promotional materials displaying the FR Brand, and award Bosque Ranch compensatory damages associated with Free Rein’s past use and infringement of the BR Brand.
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