Anheuser-Busch tips it hand by filing for area code trademarks

Consultants who recommend thinking twice before telling USPTO about your plans lest you reveal valuable corporate strategy to those who can negatively impact that strategy now have a new example to use … though, of course, we may never know the results of the revelations.

Here’s the background, as described in the330.com.  Apparently due to the success of Goose Island Beer Co.’s wheat ale that carries the name “312,” paying tribute to the area code where the ale is produced, Anheuser-Busch InBev has applied for federal trademarks for 14 area codes throughout the United States. The application is clear indication that AB InBev is interested in making and branding “city-specific beers.”

The other area codes are: 216 (Cleveland), 314 (St. Louis) (see textof filing), 412 (Pittsburgh), 305 (Miami), 619 (San Diego), 202 (Washington, D.C.), 602 (Phoenix), 704 (Charlotte, N.C.), 702 (Las Vegas), 214 (Dallas), 415 (San Francisco), 303 (Denver), 615 (Nashville, Tenn.) and 713 (Houston).