A seven year court battle by Maker’s Mark over the use of the red wax seal has been settled in favor of Maker’s Mark.

Casa Cuervo tequila was using a dripping red wax seal on it’s bottles until Maker’s Mark sued for infringing on their trademark

A judge has finally ruled that Maker’s Mark owns the trademark of the red wax seal. No damages were awarded.

Louisville Mojo thinks this isn’t the end…

Maker’s Mark has been using the red wax seal for its bottles of bourbon since 1958, but they plainly were not the first to seal a product with red wax. The world-famous Jim Beam bourbon, which has been around since 1795, reportedly used to use red wax seals on their bottles, and they still depict an image of one on their labels to this very day. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this issue.

“The Court considers the red dripping wax seal inherently distinctive, because it is a unique mark used in an unusual way to draw in the consumer,” Judge Heyburn wrote.

The Samuels family, which created Maker’s Mark, in 1958, trademarked the distinctive seal, which serves only a decorative purpose.

During a six-day trial in Louisville last year, Casa Cuervo CEO Juan Domingo Beckmann testified that he made a business judgment to stop using the seal after being sued.

“I like the way it looks, and I would like to be able to use the dripping wax because it looks more hand-crafted,” Beckmann testified. “But if I am going to be sued over it, or if I have to pay in order to use it, I simply wouldn’t.”

he told the Associated Press.

Heyburn found that idea “laudable,” but not persuasive enough to forestall an injunction.