Brewery fights Gibson for Brave-Hart
A Danish microbrewery is under pressure from attorneys for actor Mel Gibson to drop the use of their Brave-hart ale name
Actor Mel Gibson has unleashed his attorneys on tiny Midtfyns Brewery on the island of Funen for the beer-maker's use of the name Brave-Hart for their Scottish ale.
Gibson's lawyers claim that the name infringes on a copyright established after the actor's film 'Braveheart' was released in 1995 and have filed an injunction to stop the brewery from using the name.
Representatives from Midtfyns are perplexed by the legal action, which they say actually began a couple years ago.
'We received a notice and put a lawyer on the case. Time passed and we thought everything was okay, but not long ago the attorney told us we couldn't use the name and that we had to pay a DKK 10,000 fine,' the brewery's Preben Bladt told Fyens Stifstidende newspaper.
'We don't really understand it, because the Scottish company we got the recipe from has marketed 'Braveheart' for 10 years without problems.'
That brewery, Moulin, released their version of the ale at the same time the filming of Braveheart was taking place in Scotland.
Bladt said that Brave-hart has not been a big seller for them and that they only have one pallet of the brew remaining in stock.
'If Mel Gibson has a problem with our ale then he's welcome to come over here and confiscate the supply.'