Goodbye 'Moon Man': Whitehorse's Winterlong Brewing to lose logo in trademark muddle

They call him Moon Man.

Moon Man is a veteran of Whitehorse's Winterlong Brewing Co., ever since the microbrewery first opened shop two years ago.

He was a fan ofeverything Winterlong mugs, hoodies, T-shirts, bottle caps and even baby onesies leaving his mark on all of the merchandise.

But Moon Man the company'ssmiling moon logo has been fading from view, most recently having been erased from the brewery's tap handles. That's because a logo trademark incident,involving a B.C. microbrewery, hasforced Moon Man out.

WinterlongBrewing is in a state of mourning, according to co-owner Marko Marjanovic.

"We're still in the grieving period right now," said Marjanovic, about the slow, months-long retirementof the "yellow, welcoming, chubby face."

'We thought we were sort of a kindred spirit'

Moon Man's exile was a couple of years in the making.

When a brewer from Dageraad Brewing in Burnaby, B.C. visited the Yukon, he noticed the similarity between Moon Man and his own employer's logo.

"We were like OK, cool, that's awesome," said Marjanovic. "We thought we were sort of a kindred spirit."

Fast forward a year and a half, to when Marjanovic gets an emailwithsome disheartening news.

"They kindly sent us an email saying, 'you know it was cool having the same logo for a while, but we trademarked ours, and it'd be nice if you could stop using yours,'" Marjanovic recalled.

"We don't want to be litigious, or push other breweries around," said Ben Coli, owner of Dageraad Brewing which will celebrate its thirdanniversary next month.

"At the same time, we have to protect our [moon]. It'san important part of our brand," said Coli, explaining thatdageraadmeans daybreak, or dawn, in Flemish.

I keep telling myself we're not expanding, and then every six months, we run out of beer.- Marko Marjanovic

Marjanovic said because microbreweries are increasingly popular, simply Googling a logo idea isn't enough to guarantee its originality.

"There's a lot of breweries popping up So even if we try now to think [of] a new logo, I don't even know where we'd start."

Marjanovicsaid he won't pursuea legal case, for financial reasons. Instead,hiscompany will slowly phase the moon out by selling off the merchandise.DageraadBrewing agreed to the plan.

"We've got 70,000bottle caps to go, but we're on our way there," Marjanovicsaid.

New logo? Too soon

Meanwhile, the Whitehorse breweryis expanding.

"We bought another brewing system, which is over double of what we had before," said Marjanovic. "I keep telling myself 'we're not expanding', and then every six months, we run out of beer."

Marjanovic says he's not in a rush to develop a new logo, to respect the remnants of Moon Man still lingering.

"It would be a little taboo to put something out while he's still around."

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