In an article on February 11, 2013, The Blog of the Legal Times reported that DC-based Venable client New Columbia Distillers LLC, and New York's Green Farms II LLC agreed to drop their respective cases in a trademark lawsuit.
Green Farms initially sued New Columbia in a multi-count complaint in New Jersey federal court, arguing that the DC distillery's trademark for Green Hat brand gin was too similar to Green Farms' trademark for Greenhook Ginsmiths gin. In response, New Columbia filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC federal court seeking a declaratory judgment to protect its trademark. This proved successful, as Green Farms then reversed course and agreed that the trademarks are not confusingly similar. With that concession, the parties agreed to dismiss their respective cases without any monetary settlement or changes to their respective marks or labels.
New Columbia was represented by Venable partner Damon Wright and Venable associates Rebecca Liebowitz and Elizabeth Lowe.