Cole Hauser’s Coffee Brand Sued By ‘Yellowstone’ Creator

Yellowstone Photo Credit: Emerson Miller for Paramount Network Pictured: Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler.

There is a fresh drama going on with the folks at Yellowstone. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with Kevin Costner. The actor who portrays John Dutton has been at the center of most of the drama the past year.

Instead, Taylor Sheridan, the creator of the top cable show is suing Cole Hauser’s coffee company. Why would the busy showrunner be suing the company of one of the stars of the series?

Here are all the details.

Yellowstone Taylor Sheridan - YouTube
Yellowstone Taylor Sheridan – YouTube

Why Is Taylor Sheridan Suing Cole Hauser?

Yellowstone fans may be confused as to why the series creator is suing the actor who is portraying Rip Wheeler. Why is Taylor Sheridan suing Cole Hauser?

According to US Magazine, Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch filed a lawsuit on November 21. The lawsuit is against Cole Hauser’s new coffee company Free Rein. The suit is for “trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising.”

Created nearly 20 years ago, Bosque Ranch is the place where he films most of his series, and the overall name of his “business and personal endeavors.” The lawsuit has pinpointed the logo as the main objection. The B and the R overlap. Moreover, the lawsuit contends that the Free Rein log of an F and R overlapping is similar to the Bosque Ranch logo.

Sheridan describes the Free Rein logo as “confusingly similar” to Bosque Ranch. The documents also contend that it “constitutes false and misleading descriptions of fact which are likely to cause confusion or to cause a mistake.” This lawsuit indicates that customers could be confused.

In addition, in the filed documents, the Yellowstone creator contends that in June, the Bosque Ranch brand introduced their own craft coffee. Their tagline reads “for the cowboy way of life.” The lawsuit contends that when Cole Hauser’s Free Rein brand premiered “a little over three months later,” it seemed to copy Sheridan’s product.

Yellowstone Photo Credit: Emerson Miller for Paramount Network Pictured: Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler
Yellowstone Photo Credit: Emerson Miller for Paramount Network Pictured: Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler

Yellowstone Creator Wants All Free Rein Products Destroyed

The Yellowstone showrunner has asked that Cole Hauser’s company “destroy all products, marketing and promotional materials” including the branding that he calls similar to his own.

Moreover, Sheridan expects Free Rein will be responsible for “compensatory damages.”

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from X. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Yellowstone Full Of Off-Screen Drama

Since February, there has been a lot of chaos on the set of Yellowstone. The main focus has been on Kevin Costner’s schedule. Costner had a conflict with the supersized Season 5 filming schedule. He presented the Paramount brass with his availability, which was limited. That is because the longer schedule and filming delays overlapped with his Horizon filming schedule.

This chaos resulted in Paramount deciding to end the series with Season 5, Part 2. They should start filming in the spring, with a premiere set for November  2024.

However, between the chaos with Costner, and now the lawsuit against Hauser’s coffee company, it does not seem that the final filming days will be drama-free.

Yellowstone fans, do you think that logos are too similar? Share your opinion in the comments below.

Georgia Makitalo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *