SURREY, BC – Less than a week after it was announced and released, Central City Brewers + Distillers has been forced to redesign the label of its new seasonal brand Detective Saison due to copyright concerns.
As reported by The Surrey Now newspaper, soon after the label art for Detective Saison was released, local artist Myron Campbell noted on Twitter that the character on the label looked to be a nearly exact copy of the character Deena Pilgrim from the comic book series Powers.
Tim Barnes, VP of sales and marketing for Central City, told the paper that once this similarity was brought to the company’s attention, they were “not comfortable” with the label – which was created by an external design agency – and intended to have it redesigned. Bottles already in shops with the current label will remain on sale, but no further stock will be released until the new label is ready for a relaunch, which is expected to take place in approximately four weeks.
Barnes also noted that this situation would not dissuade the brewery from continuing with the new series of character-based seasonal brands, and that four more beers in the comic book inspired series are planned to be released in 2015.