A couple of interesting developments in the bourbon world, from the CJ. First:

U.S. News & World Report has released their list for best companies to work for in the United States for 2025. Nearly 500 companies are listed, and one Kentucky employer made the cut.

Brown-Forman, a consumer products company known for its spirits brands including Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve and more, made the list of best places to work. Located in Louisville, the company was included for its work environment and quality of pay.

Meanwhile:

A gourmet dog treat — shaped like a bourbon bottle, made by adults with special needs, that looks like it’s been dipped in red wax — is at the center of a trademark application dispute with the sixth-largest bourbon distillery in the world, which says the dog treat “diluted the value” of the bourbon brand.

Wigglewow, a Louisville gourmet dog treat company, filed a trademark application for “Maker’s Bark” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office three years before Maker’s Mark filed an opposition to the trademark.

Wigglewow founder Mark Pfeifer filed for the “Maker’s Bark” trademark in February 2022 after first putting it on a dog treat on Nov. 1, 2021, then selling it 25 days later.

In the first example, it’s always good to see there are good paying jobs in the Ville, so kudos to Brown-Forman.

In the second example, it’s obvious that there’s a copyright violation.

But it would have been so easy to do a minor modification and avoid the dispute. Why not use the name “Baker’s Bark,” since it’s essentially a dog biscuit and still use a bourbon bottle shape without the pseudo red wax tip. It would have had the same impact without the obvious name rip off.

(In reality, though, it doesn’t dilute the value of the brand. It would, however, make people think the dog treat is affiliated with the company, which would deceive really gullible (or heavily drunk) people.