Brewery Stone & Wood has been engaged in an ongoing dispute with rival brewer Thunder Road regarding the use of the words “pacific” and “pacific ale” in relation to their respective beers.

Stone & Wood had objected to Thunder Road’s use of these terms, asserting that they constituted a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).  They argued that use of the words was tantamount to misleading and deceptive conduct and also that the use constituted passing off at common law.