Author Patrick Wensink is such a big fan of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey that when commissioning the cover for his novel “Broken Piano For President” he went with a design similar to the whiskey’s bottle.
Unfortunately the book was far too similar to the whiskey makers bottle and a cease and desist trademark violation letter was sent.
While Jack Daniel’s could have sent out a threatening and angry letter as many company’s have done in the past, they instead chose to send what might be the most polite trademark violation letter ever mailed.
The photo shown above displays the back of the novel, while the fonts are slightly different anyone who has laid their eyes on a bottle of Jack should quickly recognize the design, especially around the book and whiskey bottle border design.
In the letter to Wensink the team at Jack Daniel’s explained in very polite terms why they can’t allow him to continue using their trademark, then they offer to help pay for the author to have his books cover redesigned in order to avoid any undue hardship for Patrick Wensink.
Jack Daniel’s goes one step further when they tell the author to let his book sell out rather than pulling it from the shelves, a move that has made the book an instant collectors item on Amazon where it is quickly selling.
Here’s the full letter Jack Daniel’s sent to the author:
Do you think more company’s could score PR points with the general public if they handled more cease and desist cases as Jack Daniel’s has successfully done?