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Massachusetts Court Dismisses Brand Owner’s Suit against Wholesaler

Earlier this month, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge granted beer wholesaler Craft Beer Guild, LLC’s (Craft) motion to dismiss a civil suit, Shelton Bros., Inc. v. Craft Beer Guild, LLC d/b/a Craft Brewer’s Guild, brought against it by beer importer Shelton Brothers, Inc. (Shelton) in connection with Craft’s alleged breach of its distribution agreement with Shelton. Craft distributed beer imported by Shelton throughout Massachusetts.

In November 2016, Shelton filed a complaint alleging that Craft breached a 2009 oral agreement between Craft and Shelton by failing to follow through on its promises regarding pricing and providing two dedicated sales people to support Shelton’s brands. In its complaint, Shelton alleged that sales of its products were in “steep decline” by 2011 due to Craft’s discriminatory pricing of Shelton’s products in the market. (more…)




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Franchise Law for the Craft Distiller

Mastering distribution is as important to a successful distiller as mastering distilling, packaging or advertising.  In a heavily-regulated industry, this requires knowledge of the applicable laws and regulations.

This article, originally published in the Winter 2013 issue of Artisan Spirit, explores, albeit at a very general level, how to manage one important category of those laws; so-called “franchise” laws.




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