05-10-2005, 05:53 AM
http://www.sulekha.com/news/newsitem.aspx?...&com=y#focuscom
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A Brentwood man who says a microbrew beer label depicting a Hindu god holding a beer has offended him and Hindus worldwide is suing the brewery.
The Humboldt County-based Lost Coast Brewery intimidates Hindus from practicing their religion, he claims.
"How can you show a god in such a way?" asked Brij Dhir, a Golden Gate University law student and attorney licensed in India. "There are lots of ways of having fun. This is not fun."
Lost Coast owners are considering changing the label of their Indica India Pale Ale. It depicts elephant-headed Ganesh, god of wisdom and remover of obstacles, holding a beer in one of his four hands, and another in his trunk.
"I don't want to offend any Hindu people," said co-owner Barbara Groom.
The company will take the product off the shelves, the brewery's general manger states in an April 26 e-mail to Dhir.
Groom said her Hindu friends don't mind the label.
"They think it's really cool."
Dhir seeks at least $25,000 and his lawsuit mentions that $1 billion would be appropriate to compensate Hindus around the world. He alleges that the brewery has defamed Hindus and caused emotional distress.
Also named as defendants are Safeway, which carries the product, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the state Attorney General's Office. Dhir alleges it has failed to respond to his requests for action against the brewery.
"It's a hate crime," Dhir said, while drinking tea in his Brentwood home. Incense lingered in the air.
Depicting Jesus Christ, Buddha, Muhammad or other religious figures would also offend him, Dhir said. Even though Lost Coast is willing to change the label, Dhir said he wants a jury to rule that the owners should pay damages for the two years of using the image.
The U.S. Constitution protects the label, an expert said.
Individuals or companies have the right to produce artwork that offends somebody's religious beliefs, said David Greene, executive director of the Oakland-based First Amendment Project.
If the brewers wanted to keep a beer-quaffing Ganesh on the label, they would have a strong chance of doing it, Greene said.
Dhir's suit alleges that commercial products don't have free speech rights.
Commercial speech does have less protection than artistic speech, Greene said. Still, courts usually protect product labeling unless it tells a lie that - like falsifying ingredients or claiming that "the beer will make you a holier person."
Groom said Lost Coast removed the label from its Web site when the owners learned about the suit last week.
Bruce Gerstman covers Contra Costa Superior Court. Reach him at 925-952-2670 or bgerstman@cctimes.com.
Beer ad battles
⢠A federal court in New York ruled in 1998 that the New York State Liquor Authority could not ban the sale of Bad Frog Beer. The label depicts a frog using the second of its four unwebbed fingers as a gesture the liquor authority considered vulgar.
⢠The same year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Colorado Division of Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement for banning the label of Flying Dog Brewery's Road Dog Ale, which included a scatological word. After a few years of litigation, the division changed its regulations so that the federal government, not the state, approved labels.
⢠Utah-based Wasatch Brewery alluded to Mormonism in its beer labels. The company's Polygamy Porter slogan was: "Why just have one? Bring some home to the wives." In 2003, when a company billboard depicted a woman next to the tag line "Nice Cans," the state senate majority leader called the advertisement offensive and soon sponsored legislation for a tax on beer kegs. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A Brentwood man who says a microbrew beer label depicting a Hindu god holding a beer has offended him and Hindus worldwide is suing the brewery.
The Humboldt County-based Lost Coast Brewery intimidates Hindus from practicing their religion, he claims.
"How can you show a god in such a way?" asked Brij Dhir, a Golden Gate University law student and attorney licensed in India. "There are lots of ways of having fun. This is not fun."
Lost Coast owners are considering changing the label of their Indica India Pale Ale. It depicts elephant-headed Ganesh, god of wisdom and remover of obstacles, holding a beer in one of his four hands, and another in his trunk.
"I don't want to offend any Hindu people," said co-owner Barbara Groom.
The company will take the product off the shelves, the brewery's general manger states in an April 26 e-mail to Dhir.
Groom said her Hindu friends don't mind the label.
"They think it's really cool."
Dhir seeks at least $25,000 and his lawsuit mentions that $1 billion would be appropriate to compensate Hindus around the world. He alleges that the brewery has defamed Hindus and caused emotional distress.
Also named as defendants are Safeway, which carries the product, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the state Attorney General's Office. Dhir alleges it has failed to respond to his requests for action against the brewery.
"It's a hate crime," Dhir said, while drinking tea in his Brentwood home. Incense lingered in the air.
Depicting Jesus Christ, Buddha, Muhammad or other religious figures would also offend him, Dhir said. Even though Lost Coast is willing to change the label, Dhir said he wants a jury to rule that the owners should pay damages for the two years of using the image.
The U.S. Constitution protects the label, an expert said.
Individuals or companies have the right to produce artwork that offends somebody's religious beliefs, said David Greene, executive director of the Oakland-based First Amendment Project.
If the brewers wanted to keep a beer-quaffing Ganesh on the label, they would have a strong chance of doing it, Greene said.
Dhir's suit alleges that commercial products don't have free speech rights.
Commercial speech does have less protection than artistic speech, Greene said. Still, courts usually protect product labeling unless it tells a lie that - like falsifying ingredients or claiming that "the beer will make you a holier person."
Groom said Lost Coast removed the label from its Web site when the owners learned about the suit last week.
Bruce Gerstman covers Contra Costa Superior Court. Reach him at 925-952-2670 or bgerstman@cctimes.com.
Beer ad battles
⢠A federal court in New York ruled in 1998 that the New York State Liquor Authority could not ban the sale of Bad Frog Beer. The label depicts a frog using the second of its four unwebbed fingers as a gesture the liquor authority considered vulgar.
⢠The same year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Colorado Division of Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement for banning the label of Flying Dog Brewery's Road Dog Ale, which included a scatological word. After a few years of litigation, the division changed its regulations so that the federal government, not the state, approved labels.
⢠Utah-based Wasatch Brewery alluded to Mormonism in its beer labels. The company's Polygamy Porter slogan was: "Why just have one? Bring some home to the wives." In 2003, when a company billboard depicted a woman next to the tag line "Nice Cans," the state senate majority leader called the advertisement offensive and soon sponsored legislation for a tax on beer kegs. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->