a Jacksonville Jax question

[Dixie Dave]

I see it reprinted in just about any reference to brewing history in New Orleans that the Jackson Brewing Company in New Orleans bought the rights to the name "Jax" from the Jacksonville Brewing Company, which also produced a Jax Beer for quite a while, in 1956. I can't find anything to verify this through the Times-Picayune archives. You'd think something like that involving a major local company would be newsworthy.

Can someone provide information from the Florida end about this? I would like to get to the bottom of this and find out once and for all what actually happened. Only story I remember about it from older collectors here is that the two brewers had a gentleman's agreement not to sell their beer in the other brewer's territory.

I might add that most reference to Jax Beer brewed by Jackson Brewing is post-prohibition, with the name showing up on the first beer they legally produced after Prohibition. Pre-pro, their beer was commonly "Jackson Bohemian Beer" or the like.

[keithker]

@Dixie Dave I searched on newspapers.com and couldn't find any details linking the two together.

[keithker]

@Dixie Dave @HiJax likely would know more...

[oldindiapaleale]

You might have better luck with a trade magazine. Modern Brewery Age covered the U.S. brewing industry from 1933 to 2018 with weekly newsletters, monthly magazines and a yearly Annual. I read copies at the Boston Public Library and they may be available at other libraries. Loaded with info on closings, mergers, production reports, new products, etc.

Another source would be the US Patent and Trade Mark office archives which should be available online.

[keithker]

@Dixie Dave The Jackson Brewery of New Orleans Wikipedia page says this. Not sure if it provides any additional details. There was no reference to this statement.

In 1935, Jackson Brewing Company entered a legal dispute with Jacksonville Brewing Company over the "Jax Beer" trademark, used by both companies. This resulted in a compromise in which Jacksonville Brewing Company got exclusive rights to sell in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, while Jackson Brewing got states to the west.[3] Jackson Brewing expanded in the 1940s, as demand increased. In the 1950s, the company suffered competition from the growing national breweries. In 1954, it bought exclusive rights to the Jax trademark from the Jacksonville company, which ended brewing operations.

[keithker]

Due to the high cost of aluminum cans and the rising revenues of Jax Brewing’s cold storage operation, Ostner’s son sold his Jax Beer copyright to New Orleans-based Jackson Brewing Company in 1956.

Source The Lost Story of Regional Breweries in Florida https://www.moderncities.com/article/20 ... in-florida

[Dixie Dave]

Due to the high cost of aluminum cans and the rising revenues of Jax Brewing’s cold storage operation, Ostner’s son sold his Jax Beer copyright to New Orleans-based Jackson Brewing Company in 1956.

Source The Lost Story of Regional Breweries in Florida https://www.moderncities.com/article/20 ... in-florida

A lot of this makes sense, but timing is still a question. When did Jax of Florida start using the Jax name? I can find it in ads from the New Orleans brewer going back to around the time of the end of Prohibition, circa 1933-34. I'll go back in and find an exact date. It does make sense that maybe the Florida brewer thought to register the name first. People here don't think of that kind of thing much- hence the later sad day when Dixie lost its "45" trademark.

And what's this line about ALUMINUM cans? Neither of these breweries ever produced an aluminum can to my knowledge, and certainly not in 1956.

Will have to try looking at US Copyright Office and see if I can get any information out of them. That brewing trade magazine would also likely be a good source of information for that and other aspects of local brewing history. I'll have to take a Saturday to go to Tulane to see what is in their library.

Thanks for giving me some direction on this.

[keithker]

@Dixie Dave You'll like this law read then from 1938.....

https://www.anylaw.com/case/jose-b-lope ... cksonville

[Dixie Dave]

@keithker

That legal ruling was some interesting reading. I was unaware that the New Orleans Jax was sold in Puerto Rico that far back. ( I do have a Hatuey malt beverage label from them). So this tells us the legal status of ownership of the trademark for the name "Jax" in Puerto Rico, but I don't think that would extend to the United States. At least we have a date to start to look for reference to Jax in the Times-Picayune. Thank you for taking the time to research this. I appreciate the help. My home computer is down, and it's just too much to research over the phone.

One of these days, I'm figuring out how to turn all this story about Jax into an article for the BCCA magazine.