Macrobrewer Anheuser-Busch InBev recently applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register 619 (a San Diego area code) as a trademark for beer, along with similar applications for thirteen other U.S. area codes, including 314 (St. Louis), 305 (Miami), 202 (Washington, D.C.), 602 (Phoenix), 412 (Pittsburgh), 704 (Charlotte), 702 (Las Vegas), 214 (Dallas), 415 (San Francisco), 216 (Cleveland), 303 (Denver), 615 (Nashville), and 713 (Houston). Anheuser-Busch’s application for 619, if successful, would allow A-B to prevent other competitors in the beer market from using that area code as a brand identifier. It’s also possible that their umbrella of…
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