BART does not find imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery.
Bay Area Rapid Transit is opposing a new trademark application filed by Truckee's FiftyFifty Brewing for a beer called B.A.R.T.
Bay Area Rapid Transit filed a Notice of Opposition to the United States Patent and Trademark Office on March 16 stating, "BART will be damaged by registration of the mark B.A.R.T. . . . and hereby opposes the name."
"Just as any agency or business does, BART routinely protects its name and registered trademarks," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said in an email. "Use of the BART name by unauthorized parties for commercial gain, whether or not they are in the rapid transit business, is a violation of trademark law, and something BART must protect itself against."
The beer's name is also an acronym, but it stands for "Barrel Aged Really Tasty." The company website describes it as "a rare one-off beer blended on the brewers whim. The most recent iteration contains a delicious blend of Totality Imperial Stout, Donner Party Porter, and our Summit Barleywine, aged in Oak Bourbon Barrels for 180 days."
FiftyFifty owner and CEO Andy Barr told Inside Scoop SF that B.A.R.T. is named after Bart, a now deceased dog who was the brewery's unofficial mascot.
"The implication is that we came up with that acronym in order to monetize on the fame of Bay Area Rapit Transit — which is not true," he said.
