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Diving overview:
- Surfside Parent Company Stateside Brands sues Anheuser-Busch. A competitor has been accused of copying the design of a popular vodka tea can for its Skimmers line of ready-to-drink cocktails.
- The lawsuit notes that the can designs of the two products are similar. It mainly has a colored band at the bottom of the can and a white background and sun logo at the top. Surfside claims Anheuser-Busch is trying to ‘free ride’ on the popularity of canned iced tea and lemonade vodka drinks by launching similar-looking products.
- Surfside is seeking damages from the liquor giant and asking the court to stop it from using the design. “The lawsuit is without merit and (we) will vigorously defend against it,” an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said in an email to Food Dive.
Dive Insights:
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of food and beverage companies taken to court over allegations of fraud and unfair competition. JM Smucker sues Trader Joe’s. For the “copycat” Uncrustables. Mondelēz claimed Aldi’s private label. The portfolio rips off Oreo and other snacks.
Vodka tea and other alcohol-based beverages while overall alcohol consumption decreases. There are still RTD cocktails left. bright place. Stateside entered the RTD category in 2021 and launched Surfside the following year, according to the complaint. Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch entered RTD cocktails in 2019 before launching Skimmers earlier this year.
According to data cited in the complaint, Surfside has grown 563% in just two years on the market. Parent company Stateside made “hundreds and millions of dollars” just from selling Surfside products.
Surfside’s attorneys are requesting a jury trial on the complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Surfside accused Anheuser-Busch of trade dress infringement and unfair competition. It is seeking monetary damages as well as attorneys’ fees and a share of Anheuser-Busch profits.
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But Stateside does not have a federal trademark registration for the can design, so it could face an uphill battle in the legal process, said Josh Gerben, founder of law firm Gerben IP.
“Because the company is smaller and has experienced very rapid growth since 2022, protecting the can design may have been overlooked,” Gerben said in an email. “The biggest problem is that the evidentiary burden at trial is higher to prove that there is a federal right to the underlying design elements, which can make it more difficult to win a case.”
Surfside’s attorney did not respond to a request for further comment.
