The Wild West lawsuit between the creator of the popular Yellowstone series and one of the show’s star competing coffee companies is over, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
Taylor Sheridan, the showrunner for the hit Paramount+ series filed documents requesting that the case be dismissed just 25 days after he slammed Yellowstone star Cole Hauser with a copyright infringement lawsuit.
“Such dismissal is with prejudice,” Sheridan’s renowned law firm Cantey Hanger LLP wrote in court documents indicating the case was settled out of court and he cannot re-file the lawsuit in the future.
The Texas-sized coffee battle erupted in October when Hauser, who plays fan favorite Rip Wheeler in the show, launched the Free Rein Coffee Company using an intertwined F and R logo that allegedly resembled the B and R logo used by Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch.
“Neither Hauser nor the Defendants asked or received permission or authorization of Sheridan or Bosque Ranch to use a mark confusingly similar to the BR Brand for virtually identical goods,” Sheridan’s lawsuit charged.
The lawsuit claimed the distinctive BR logo has appeared in Yellowstone because the ranch is used as a film location along with its popular spin-off 1883 starring Sam Elliot, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw.
What’s more, Sheridan launched his own line of brew, The Bosque Ranch Craft Coffee in August 2023 using the sales pitch: the ‘Cowboy way of life.’”
“A little over three months after Sheridan announced Bosque Ranch Craft Coffee, another Yellowstone star, Cole Hauser, launched Defendant Free Rein and began selling “Free Rein” coffee, ‘Born from the cowboy tradition,’” the lawsuit charged.
“Like the ubiquitous Bosque Ranch trademark, Defendant Free Rein created a branding mark with two overlapping letters – this time F and R.”
The lawsuit sought to force Hauser to “destroy all products, marketing and promotional materials displaying, his FR brand” and award Sheridan unspecified compensatory damages.
This is not Sheridan’s first time at the rodeo when it comes to disputes with the stars on his shows.
Sheridan and Hidden Figures hunk Kevin Costner butted heads over the Yellowstone’s direction and the star’s decision to pursue his pet project, the two-part western epic, Horizon: An American Sagawhich is set to hit theaters in 2024.
Sheridan said he was “disappointed” by Costner’s departure which put the nail in the Yellowstone series in Season 5. During his bitter divorce with ex Christine Baumgartner, it was revealed that Costner may go to court to claim $12 million owed to him by Yellowstone following his early departure, according to NBCNews.com.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Sheridan, 53, and Hauser, 48, allegedly got into a fight when they first met during a “cowboy boot camp” for the actors before filming began on the first season.