German Brewing Company Denied 'Duff Beer' Trademark

On Thursday, a popular German brewing company that gets its notoriety from Homer Simpson's favorite beer was denied the sole right of producing Duff beer. The company, Duff Beer UG, fought to have a southern German brewing company's Duff beer trademark declared invalid by the courts, to make them the only Duff beer producers. Unfortunately for Duff Beer UG, which has grown in success over the past few years, the courts denied the suit and ruled in favor of the two competing Duff beers.

This isn't the only legal tangle for Duff Beer UG has been involved with recently, although the company was often on the receiving end of the legal battles instead. Twentieth Century Fox, producers of the show "The Simpsons," has prevented many companies from creating beers with the Duff name, including one Colombian brewery earlier this year. Though Duff Beer UG thrives in Europe, Twentieth Century Fox has legally prevented the company from becoming too widespread; the two companies are currently in a separate battle over the disputed territory of the beer.

It certainly is a whole lot of controversy over a cartoon, fictional beer. We're not so sure the beer's original proponent, the infamously lazy Homer Simpson, would even fight this adamantly for his drink.