This archive report was first published on 21 December 2019.
Published on December 21, 2019, a brewing dispute has emerged between Keroche Breweries and East African Breweries Limited (EABL) over the use of Euro bottles for packaging alcoholic drinks.
Keroche Breweries has accused EABL of using its dominance to stifle competition after the latter put up an advert announcing an alleged injunction to stop Keroche from using the international Euro bottles to package its Summit Lager, KB Lager, and Viena Ice alcohol brands.
According to a statement by the Keroche Distributors Association, the Euro bottle existed before the two companies came into place and as such EABL cannot lay claim to it.
"The Euro bottle does not belong to anyone. It is a universal bottle. The brown beer bottles are not available to any beer manufacturer to patent or pretend to trademark. We are going to court to challenge EABL for engraving the mark EABL on a bottle they do not own," the statement read.
On the other hand, EABL had alleged in the advert that some of its competitors were using its trademark bottles to package alcoholic drinks.
"Notice is hereby given to all persons dealing in EABL engraved bottles or packaging non-EABL alcoholic beverages in an EABL engraved bottle that this action is in contravention of the law and court order," part of the advert read.
