Stone Brewing sues MillerCoors, alleging brand "confusion"

Craft brewing company Stone Brewing Co. is suing MillerCoors LLC over a rebranding of Keystone Light beer, arguing that it could confuse drinkers. 

The Roanoke Times reports that Stone Brewing, based in California with a brewery in Richmond, filed the lawsuit on Monday accusing MillerCoors Keystone beer's rebranding of overtly copying and infringing on the Stone trademark. It says the new Keystone label emphasizes the word "Stone," and that MillerCoors has launched a social media campaign intended to mislead customers by establishing Stone as a new name for Keystone.

Stone Brewing's co-founder and executive chairman Greg Koch says in a released video that the company believes "MillerCoors is intentionally and deliberately trying to create confusion in the marketplace."

MillerCoors has denied the claims in a statement and called the lawsuit a "clever publicity stunt."