Learn why Bad Bunny sues Florida brewer

Puerto Rican street artist Bad Bunny sued the South Florida brewer Unbranded Brewing Company for alleged “unfair competition” and “misleading advertising” on the beer cans it markets under the San Benito name and various commercial promotional items.

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the first name of Bad Bunny, and Rimas Entertainment, the company behind Bad Bunny, accuse the aforementioned brewery based in Hialeah (city near Miami) of making “unauthorized use of the name and image” of the Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor, Cooperativa reported.

The indictment, filed on Tuesday, specifies that Unbranded Brewery Company has produced, sold and advertised one of its “seasonal beers” under the name “San Benito beer” using the name Ocasio (Benito) and the trademark “San Benedict”.

The indictment, filed on Tuesday, specifies that Unbranded Brewery Company has produced, sold and advertised one of its “seasonal beers” under the name “San Benito beer” using the name Ocasio (Benito) and the trademark “San Benedict”.

The indictment, filed on Tuesday, specifies that Unbranded Brewery Company has produced, sold and advertised one of its “seasonal beers” under the name “San Benito beer” using the name Ocasio (Benito) and the trademark “San Benedict”.

Bad Bunny demandó a cervecera por usar su imagen de forma ilegal https://t.co/PeKSfCfXPA pic.twitter.com/0wfAFTiCY4

— RCN Mundo: Radio y Podcast (@rcnmundo) November 18, 2021

The lawsuit indicates that, in addition to the artistic name of Bad Bunny, Ocasio “uses the trademark San Benito to provide producer services” and that in August 2020 he applied for registration at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

It adds that Rimas Entertainment is a Florida corporation dedicated to the music production and publishing business and that “the plaintiff enjoys the exclusive right” to enter into endorsement deals on behalf of Ocasio and “exploit its name, image and trademarks.”

It stands out that the artist has 35.8 million followers, only on Instagram, and that his debut album “X 100PRE” (2018), was awarded a Latin Grammy for Best Urban Music Album, in addition to being considered by the magazine Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

According to the plaintiffs, the image itself and all the iconography surrounding Saint Benedict on the beer cans and promotional items of the brewery is “well known to fans of Ocasio”, an iconography that includes “a bunny and a symbol of third eye ”, something that reinforces even more, in case there was any doubt, that it is Bad Bunny.

For the artist and his corporation, the cans with the San Benito logo clearly use Ocasio’s name, trademark and image, in addition to the fact that the brewery “has produced and sold stickers and T-shirts with the same graphic image” to promote the sale of this beer, as stated in the lawsuit filed in a court in the Southern District of Florida.