Legal muscle

While there exists little protection for the creator of a cocktail as far as origination is concerned  – such claims are near impossible to substantiate – brand names of certain spirits who acquire those recipes, have resort to far better legal protection. Indeed, their interests can be protected under trademark law which effectively gives them intellectual-property rights over the recipes. An example, the Dark ‘n Stormy, a cocktail likely originating somewhere in the Caribbean. The recipe was acquired by Goslings Brothers Limited, a distiller and seller of rum based in St George’s, Bermuda. Moreover, the recipe’s  ingredients stipulate the use of Goslings Black Seal Rum. Thus, by means of  registering the trademark (which it did in Bermuda in 1980 and in the US in 1991) Goslings had trade-mark protection over the Dark ‘n Stormy. In other words, if a cocktail bar in either of those jurisdictions substituted another brand of rum while preparing the cocktail, in law they could be sued.