Jack Daniel's vs Jack and Victor

Still Game creators Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan  have won a trademark showdown with booze giant Jack Daniel’s – after they launched a whisky named after their sitcom characters.

The pair attracted the ire of the Tennessee distillery when they launched a limited edition blended Scotch called Jack & Victor two years ago

The US firm opposed the name, saying it was too close to their own and arguing it might confuse customers, and damage their brand. The company submitted evidence to the UK Intellectual Property Office showing their use of ‘Jack' alone to refer to its  bourbon.

But the office has now found in favour of the comics after hearing evidence from Hemphill and Jack Daniel’s managing director Justin Welch, the managing director at, gave evidence.

In a detailed 69-page ruling, UKIPO said the word ‘Jack’ had too many uses to be distinctive enough to enjoy trademark protection.

Officer Heather Harrison said the differences between the two brands were ‘too great’ to be confused and found there was no evidence Hemphill and Kiernan were attempting to cash in on Jack Daniel's reputation.

After rejecting claims of confusion with Jack Daniels and Jack Rocks, another trademark the company holds,  she wrote: ‘The opponent’s best case on the marks is its "Jack" mark. There is a medium degree of visual, aural and conceptual similarity.

‘However, even where the goods are identical, the additional elements ‘& Victor’ in the contested mark are sufficient to rule out a likelihood of direct confusion: the marks will not be mistaken for one another.

As to ‘free-riding’ on the reputation of the more established brand, she wrote: ‘The evidence does not establish that there was any subjective intention to take unfair advantage.

‘On the contrary, Mr Hemphill has given unchallenged evidence which explains in detail that the contested mark consists of the names of the protagonists in the Still Game television programme. That programme first aired between 2002 and 2007, returning to UK television for a further run of episodes between 2016 to some renown, at least in Scotland.’

After losing the case, Jack Daniel's were ordered to pay £3,200 in costs to Hemphill and Kiernan’s company Jack and Victor Limited.

The Scotch is now down to its last 118 bottles, available from the Jack and Victor website for £35. It is marketed under the slogan ‘still here in spirit.

When it was launched, Kiernan told the Scottish Licensed Trade News: ‘A lot of years ago now we made an episode of Still Game which was to do with us visiting a distillery.

‘We loved the episode and of course we were filming it in a distillery and just started talking about wouldn’t it be nice to do a whisky. But there was so much going on at the time that we only kinda half looked at it.

‘It wasn’t until we had some free time to seriously consider actually doing something about it to see if it was going to be viable.’

Hemphill added: ‘I think about a third of the show takes place in The Clansman, as well. It’s kind of always been part of the culture of the show.’

Published: 24 May 2023