Fashion retailer Hugo Boss has taken a brewery on in a row over the businesses name.
Boss Brewing was forced to fork out nearly £10,000 to defend itself, after the clothing giant sent a letter to them, in a bid to stop them using the trade name.
Owners Sarah John and Roy Allkin said the battle began when they applied to own the trademark of their company's name - a procedure which should usually cost £300, Wales Online reports.
Fashion giant Hugo Boss, often styled as Boss, which had a net income of €236 million in 2018, issued a cease and desist letter to the Welsh brewery to try and stop it using the trade name.
Ms John said: "We had a letter from Hugo Boss saying we had to stop using it immediately.
"They were adamant they wanted to stop the name. They have got the Boss trademark in most areas but they have not got it in alcohol."
After months of negotiations, it was resolved that the names of their award-winning beer Boss Black, and Boss Boss, which is one of their highest selling products in supermarkets, would have to change.
And the brewery cannot sell clothing anymore.
Ms John said: "We were going back and forth with solicitors. I was determined and not willing to change it.
"But we had advice that discussions were as good as they were going to get. With their finances it was only going to get worse and worse and we could end up losing anyway.
"It has ended up that we have got to stop using the name of Boss Black, which is our champion beer of Wales, and Boss Boss, which is our biggest seller in the supermarkets.
"Boss Black is now to be known as Boss Brewing Black and Boss Boss will become Boss Bossy.
"We've got pallet loads of Boss Black which we are going to have to go through and change the labels of, which will be of great expense and time for a small brewery.
"We have been told we cannot release any clothes, and we've got to get rid of all of our hats and t-shirts we have printed. The whole process should have cost £300 but it ended up costing us nearly £10,000."
She added: "This has been a horrible experience, and so stressful.
"We have worked so hard to create all of this and what should have been a simple process ended up making us question whether everything was going to be OK going forward in the future and whether we were going to lose everything.
"At the moment we are investing in a new bottling line and that money wasted in legal fees could have been invested in new kit.
"I understand brand identity, you have to look after your brand. But I think it's a bit unnecessary that this massive clothing company has gone after a small brewery."
Wales Online has approached Hugo Boss for comment.
