(a) A brand of intoxicating liquor or 3.2 percent malt liquor may not be manufactured, imported into, or sold in the state unless the brand label has been registered with and approved by the commissioner. A brand registration must be renewed every three years in order to remain in effect. The fee for an initial brand registration is $40. The fee for brand registration renewal is $30. The brand label of a brand of intoxicating liquor or 3.2 percent malt liquor for which the brand registration has expired, is conclusively deemed abandoned by the manufacturer or importer.

(b) In this section "brand" and "brand label" include trademarks and designs used in connection with labels.

(c) The label of any brand of wine or intoxicating or nonintoxicating malt beverage may be registered only by the brand owner or authorized agent. No such brand may be imported into the state for sale without the consent of the brand owner or authorized agent. This section does not limit the provisions of section 340A.307.

(d) The commissioner shall refuse to register a malt liquor brand label, and shall revoke the registration of a malt liquor brand label already registered, if the brand label states or implies in a false or misleading manner a connection with an actual living or dead American Indian leader. This paragraph does not apply to a brand label registered for the first time in Minnesota before January 1, 1992.

History: 1985 c 305 art 5 s 11; 1987 c 152 art 1 s 1; 1991 c 249 s 2,31; 1992 c 513 art 3 s 55; 1994 c 611 s 12; 2005 c 136 art 8 s 14

NOTE: Paragraph (d) was found unconstitutional in the case of Hornell Brewing Co., Inc. v. Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Liquor Control Division, 553 N.W.2d 713 (Minn. Ct. App. 1996).