Overview
- A Dutch law firm for Yoko Ono’s Trust sent a late-March cease-and-desist over the pun “John Lemon,” warning of €100,000 plus €150 to €1,000 per day in fines.
- After letters back and forth, the brewery can clear 5,000 bottles already made but must stop using the name after July 1.
- Publicity around the dispute drove a sales surge, with fewer than 1,000 bottles left and some customers asking for keepsake labels and empties.
- The operation is tiny, selling within about 40 km with two employees and annual output of roughly 50,000 to 80,000 bottles.
- Lawyers also rejected a proposed new name, “Jaune Lemon,” and barred any visual or name that alludes to John Lennon, echoing a similar 2017 case in France.