That’s sour: Yoko Ono takes legal action against Dutch genever company
Extremely sour news for Amsterdam-based genever company Kever Genever: Yoko Ono, the widow of Beatles legend John Lennon, has learned that they sell a lemon cocktail called John Lemon (Canned Cocktail). And Miss Ono is not amused…
She believes that this name infringes on the trademarks John Lennon and John Lemon, which she owns. She is demanding an immediate halt to sales of the canned cocktail, subject to a penalty, access to all relevant documents, and compensation for the legal action she has taken.
When life gives you lemons
Why is she also the owner of the ‘John Lemon’ ‘trademark’? Probably not because she intends to do anything with it, but to ensure that no one can bring a product to market with a name resembling that of her late husband. Ono is undoubtedly already extremely wealthy, partly due to the proceeds from the estate and everything connected to the name John Lennon.
And history teaches us something else: in 2017, she also managed to stop a Polish soft-drink company from producing a John Lemon drink. They had to change the name and turned it into ‘On Lemon’ (we think that’s a fun alternative).
A sour apple
Sebastian Kolstee and Ruben Wolvekamp, who founded Kever Genever in 2015, are stunned by this legal action. They say that the drink’s name refers to the classic John Collins cocktail, which also contains ‘lemon’. They do have several playful names in their range, they say, and find this extremely hard-line attitude difficult to reconcile with the philosophy of love and peace once so strongly promoted by Lennon and Ono.
The final straw
In a press release, they respond as follows: ‘We see little of the peace, love and happiness she so fervently preached in Ono’s action,’ and ‘A claim by Ms Ono and her organization is particularly damaging to our company and a major blow to our business. We cannot imagine that John Lennon himself would ever have come up with such a hostile plan.’
They are in talks with Yoko Ono’s lawyers and the Imagine Peace Revocable Trust, and say that the final word has not yet been spoken on the matter. ‘We won’t let ourselves be squeezed like a lemon either.’
Meanwhile, through the Kever Genever website, you can financially support the company through crowdfunding for the undoubtedly expensive steps that will follow.
Read also:
- With this amazing cocktail tool, you’ll never run out of inspiration again
- I made lemonade… with genever – and here’s the amazing recipe
- Super simple and delicious: make advocaat yourself
Source: Het Parool, image: Kever Genever/Shutterstock
