Seattle Trademark Lawyer

I heard this story during my first day in Spain.

There’s a worldwide problem with labeling fish.

You think you’re ordering something tasty and sustainable, and that’s what you pay for when the bill comes. But it turns out what you’re served is a lower-quality fish, or one that’s not ecologically sound. Deceived!

Sorta like European consumers who recently picked out hamburger at the grocery store — and paid for hamburger — but ate horse.

It may not be your restaurant’s or grocer’s fault. Someone in the distribution chain decided they could make an extra buck if they upgraded their product by calling it something it’s not. It’s outrageous and fraudulent, but apparently it’s common. And the consumer suffers.

If you can’t trust the label, what’s a purchaser to do?

This shows how important labels are. And — by extension — brands. If you buy from a brand you trust, you figure they’re being straight with you. You’re banking on it. And the magic is, so is the brand owner — because if they burn you as a consumer, you’ll never buy from them again.

You trust the brand owner. Not wanting to abuse your trust — because it will go out of business if it does — the brand owner makes darn sure its suppliers accurately identify what’s being sold. You hold the restaurant you trust responsible. The restaurant holds its fish distributors responsible. The distributors hold the fishermen responsible.

Clearly, this scheme isn’t perfect. There’s no substitute for strong labeling laws. People should go to jail for misbranding. But it’s nice how brands encourage better behavior than might exist otherwise.