Wisconsin retailer pleased with settlement
Milwaukee – The owner’s of Wisconsin’s “Discount Liquor” stores declared victory as two of its Trademark lawsuits have been settled. In both lawsuits, the two infringing stores are required to change their name. Cleveland Discount Liquor and Ridins Discount Liquor are no longer allowed to use the words ‘Discount Liquor” in their name.
In the lawsuit, Discount Liquor with locations at 5031 W. Oklahoma Ave., Milwaukee and 919 Barstow Street, Waukesha contended that the Cleveland and Ridins Discount Liquor stores infringed upon Discount Liquor’s trade name and registered Wisconsin trademark.
“Litigation was truly our last resort in this case. However, we could not stand by and allow customers to continue to be confused about whether our business was in any way connected to these other “Discount Liquor” stores,” said Frank Greguska, an officer of Discount Liquor.
“We could not risk any damage to our business’s excellent reputation that may have been done by the operator of an unrelated store with a confusingly similar name.”
As part of the settlement, Cleveland and Ridins agreed to remove the words “Discount Liquor” from its business name and it further agreed that it would abandon any pending or current trademark applications it was seeking.
“Discount Liquor is quite pleased with the result of this case and looks forward to resolving similar disputes with other businesses in the area which are infringing upon our name, confusing our customers, and tarnishing our reputation as the premier alcohol retailer in Southeast Wisconsin,” said Greguska.
For 50 years Discount Liquor has been a family run, full service beer, wine and liquor shop, serving Southeastern Wisconsin. Discount Liquor was voted “Best Beer and Liquor Store” – 2001-2009 by Shepard Express Readers, voted “31st Best Beer Retailer in the World” by RateBeer.com and named one of the 50 best wine stores in America by GQ Magazine – It is the only Wisconsin store to receive such an honor.
For more information visit http://www.discountliquorinc.com.
