I’ve honestly never liked any of magic hat’s beer (my wife likes their christmas beer tho) but if this is true I like them even less as a company now…
This is from West Sixth’s website so we’re only hearing one side of it but their logos look nothing alike to me.
Something similar happened with Georgetown Brewing about 3 years ago:
http://seattlebeernews.com/2010/06/trademark-dispute-moves-georgetown-to-rename-9lb-porter-to-georgetown-porter/
Even though there is a 9 in the name, I thought it was a lousy thing for a company like Magic Hat to do. I always enjoyed the #9 but haven’t bought a single beer from them since this incident.
This one with West Sixth is BS.
They suck, their beers mostly suck, I think I’ll have some fun on Facebook. Thanks for the link!
If I was them I would be immensely pissed at my graphic design guy(s). Way too close for comfort.
Full disclosure:
I grew up in Vermont but I was never terribly fond of Magic Hat beers.
Now that that’s out of the way, I couldn’t get to west sixths site but I found this article with a picture
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/05/21/2648036/vermont-craft-brewer-files-federal.html
looking pretty similar to me.
EDIT Modified to add, I can’t imagine why you would want someone to potentially mistake your beer for a #9. that stuff is nasty.
Doesn’t look anything like it to me. Line weight is different. 9 doesn’t connect the loop, I would never mistake the two.
Anyway, I do love me some internet in case anyone wants to have some email fun!
Mod Edit - Do a search you can find the contact info for the companies out there… otherwise - zoink.
The amber was what made me do a double-take:
I wouldn’t say they look “nothing alike”, but they are clearly different to me. I wish West Sixth luck.
I agree. Maybe Magic Hat should focus their energy on brewing better beers. Haven’t had one of theirs I’d buy again yet.
Me either. 
My favorite quote of someone tasting #9 for the first time “I need to sue somebody!” How appropriate.
Try and censor this Beechum 
I just drank a Magic Hat #9 upside down last night and it tastes like an IPA…weird. ;D
the eight-pointed star right near the middle of the logo is what made me do a double-take. Get rid of that, and I think it’s plenty different.
but that, just, like, my opinion, man.
One is the name of a beer. The other, the name of a brewery. I seriously doubt that any “similarities” have caused Magic Hat any loss of sales, much less enough to sue this little brewery for all their profits. What a load of BS. I must admit, I was surprised to learn that Magic Hat is a corporate entity.
Maybe posting a side by side of the logos with the West Sixth Brewing logo inverted will help.
Perhaps someone can explain how they look similar other than the blob at the bottom of the 9 and top of the 6? The 6 is closed and has different line weights than the 9 which is not closed. The dingbat on the 9 is a dingbat and the 6 is a star and the colors are different. I just don’t see how the two can be confused. Good on West Sixth for not caving to the pressure.
Three dominant graphic elements - The font is nearly identical. The green is within the color pallette Magic Hat normally uses. And many Magic Hat logos use a starburst. I wouldn’t confuse it with the #9 label specifically, but if I saw that label from a distance I’d probably think it was Magic Hat one-off.
I believe the star in the west sixth logo is actually a compass rose and because the “6” is on the left side, it makes it the West side.
I agree that they are similar but I would never accidentally pick this up instead of Magic hat. If I did, I’d probably be better off and maybe that’s why their worried. 
The article in the original post is quite misleading.
I was sent this by another club member: http://www.scribd.com/doc/142860493/Magic-Hat-Brewing-and-West-Sixth-Brewing
West Sixth Brewing has been in discussions with Magic Hat for a while on changing their logo. For West Sixth to publish something that misleading is shiesty in my book. I have zero sympathy for West Sixth Brewing.
I also don’t drink Magic Hat (especially #9) because it is pretty bad. So no bias towards either brewery here, just callin’ it like I see it.
Edit: here’s some more research…
http://beerpulse.com/2013/05/magic-hat-calls-bs-on-west-sixths-media-campaign-after-lawsuit-407/
and this
http://beerpulse.com/2013/05/west-sixth-rebukes-magic-hats-public-response-publicly-proposes-settlement/
Sounds a lot like West Sixth is trying to make it seem like the ‘big bad wolf’ is beating up on them when their logos are really quite similar. If a distributor declines to carry a brand because it looks to similar to another, they might be on to something.
The mere fact that you have to explain and manipulate the images in order to show how similiar they are works in West Sixth’s favor. The typefaces are nowhere near identical and I think most of you are getting caught up in the idea of “hey, a 6 is just an upsidedown 9 right?!”. They are about as similar as a shark is to a dolphin. Sure they both have tails and fins and swim in the ocean but that’s where it ends.
I’m not a lawyer, but as a designer, I would jump at the chance to argue this in court infront of a jury. I would take a laptop, hook it up to a nice big LCD screen or projector and using photoshop, go thru the steps it would take to convert one logo into the other, finishing with And that’s all you have to do to make them similar..
Law & Order closing theme
P.S. I think one contentious point could be the star symbol but it seems more ornamental in Mag Hat’s case and more part of the story or theme in West Sixth’s.