Old news. Their PR lady said that they had no idea that an actual Sam Adams was soon to be coronated, that there have been problems in the past with people attempting to capitalize on their trademark familiarity, and that there should be no problem with the use of the SamAdamsForMayor site.

All it's really done is give publicity-hound Sam a boatload of more free press.

Until this afternoon, the public stance of Boston Beer was that they would give Adams the candidate, and Adams the candidate only, "permission" to use one of the two disputed domains, and for the election only. The news today is that they're apparently going to go away about these domains completely.

They have indeed given Adams lots of free publicity. Not that it matters. Haven't you heard? He's running without an opponent that anyone has ever heard of. Concrete jungle and municipal bankruptcy, here we come.

I don't know. I think a lawsuit is in order. I mean, just the other day, I went to the grocery store looking for a way to contribute to a political campaign, and I saw this beer that said "Sam Adams" on it. Naturally, I assumed if I bought it, I would be donating money to Sam's campaign. Imagine how upset I was when I found out the money I spent on that beer with the Sam Adams name went to some CORPORATION, and one over in BOSTON, for pete's sakes!

This is definitely a case where using someone else's name has led to consumer confusion and money being spent the wrong way. That's a classic example of why we have and must enforce trademark laws.