A Heart, A Brain, The Nerve, And A New Trademark? Brewery Gives Up On 'Wizard Of Oz' Beer

ROCKVILLE, MD — A Rockville brewery has given up its hope of being granted a trademark by the almighty U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 7 Locks Brewery had been selling a beer called "Surrender Dorothy" and wished to have it trademarked, until Turner Entertainment threatened legal action, The Washington Post reported.

“Basically, Turner owns the rights to ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ” Keith Beutel, co-founder of 7 Locks, told Washington Post columnist John Kelly. “They claimed that we were using the term ‘Surrender Dorothy’ and they didn’t want any confusion with their branding.”

John Kelly first reported the story in his column, titled "And your little dog, too! Witchy lawyers force name change of Maryland beer." Beutel told him that 7 Locks gave up on the trademark in August 2020, not wanting to enter into a legal battle.

Read John Kelly's full column in The Washington Post here.