Vermont Hard Cider Company Takes Aim at Coffee Roaster

A Vermont company that makes hard cider is suing another Vermont company that roasts coffee for trademark infringement over the use of the word “woodchuck.”

Vermont Hard Cider Co. filed a complaint against Woodchuck Coffee Roasters in U.S. District Court last week.

The Middlebury company says it’s spent substantial money building brand awareness for its Woodchuck Hard Cider since 1991.

It says Woodchuck Coffee Roasters’ coffee logo is strikingly similar to its hard cider label, with an oval logo with a woodchuck sitting on its haunches.

A co-owner of the coffee company tells the Rutland Herald that his company’s name and logo were never intended to imitate the better-known cider company.

The South Burlington company was incorporated in 2011.