In 1893, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the axe murders of her father, Andrew Jackson Borden, and stepmother, Abby Gray Borden, who were found hacked to death in their Fall River home the previous year.
130 years later, a ghost tour company hopes to try the owners of a new Borden-themed coffee shop for hacking into their profits in violation of copyright law.
According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Miss Lizzie’s Coffee, which opened on Aug. 4, the 131st anniversary of the murders, improperly uses Borden’s name and a hatchet logo.
The plaintiff, US Ghost Tours, LLC, claims they have been using Borden’s name and hatchet logo which they trademarked in 1996 and 2013, respectively, for various goods and services, including restaurants and hotels.
Miss Lizzie’s Coffee opened next door to the group’s Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, which Ghost Tours claims was intentional.
According to the group, the coffee shop’s location, name and logo “deceptively (confuse) unsuspecting customers by creating a false association that Defendants’ services are affiliated with, approved by, and/or licensed from plaintiff.”
The lawsuit accuses coffee shop owner Joseph Pereira of copyright infringement, trademark infringement under various statutes, trademark dilution under two different statutes, and unfair trade practices.
The tour company claims it has suffered “monetary damages and loss of control of the goodwill associated” with its trademarks.
The suit asks for an injunction prohibiting the coffee shop and Pereira from infringing its copyrights and trademarks, requiring them to issue a formal retraction and “engage in corrective advertising,” and awarding damages among other remedies.
The filing requests a jury trial.
