A pint of Radler please

I always love a David and Goliath story!  You gotta love their conviction!!  This from www.foodnews.co.nz

May 2nd, 2011
By: Keith Stewart
The Society of Beer Advocates is currently fighting for the integrity of New Zealand beer on two fronts; with Heineken-owned DB over the name ‘radler’, and with pubs nationwide that insist on selling pints of beer that are well short of a full pint.

Both are battles of semantics, with DB claiming that because it was the first to commercially market the name radler, it should have rights to its definition. SOBA counters that radler has existed as a recognised name for any beer/lemonade mix that originated in German pubs over a century ago.

Currently the dispute is before the Intellectual Property Office in a hearing predicted to last another three days.

Also attracting SOBA’s ire is the common practice amongst New Zealand pubs of serving pints that are as much as 30% less than the full measure. While a full pint is 568ml, glasses holding between 400ml and 500ml are in common usage for “pints”.

SOBA spokesperson Geoff Griggs hopes that some sort of order will be imposed on local pubs before the influx of Rugby World Cup fans exposes New Zealand’s hospitality sector as a fraud.