Fall River Coffee Shop Wins Again in Lizzie Borden Battle

FALL RIVER (WBSM) — It’s time for Fall River’s notorious Lizzie Borden House and Miss Lizzie’s Coffee, the cafe that opened next door, to bury the hatchet.

That’s because an appeal filed by U.S. Ghost Adventures, the company that owns the Lizzie Borden House, was denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a recent decision.

The company opted to sue Miss Lizzie’s Coffee and its owner Joe Pereira after the coffee shop opened on August 4, 2023, the 131st anniversary of the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden.

The complaint was filed on September 18, about six weeks after the coffee shop opened, seeking injunctive relief to keep Miss Lizzie's Coffee from using what US. Ghost Adventures claimed was its trademarked name and hatchet logo, and that consumers were confusing the two businesses as a result.

On October 27, 2023, U.S. District Judge Judge Leo T. Sorokin ruled that U.S. Ghost Adventures did not pass the customary four-part test applied for an injunction, and that U.S. Ghost Adventures had failed to demonstrate the likelihood of confusion between the two businesses.

Sorokin also refuted U.S. Ghost Adventures’ claims that the name “Miss Lizzie’s Coffee” infringed upon the company’s trademark of the name “Lizzie Borden” for restaurant and hospitality (noting that they offered two different types of services), and that the hatchet logo used by the coffee shop was different than the one used by the house.

As such, Judge Sorokin ruled that U.S. Ghost Adventures was unlikely to succeed in a lawsuit based on the merits of its claims.

Back in March of this year, U.S. Ghost Adventures filed an appeal to Judge Sorokin’s decision, which went before a three-judge panel in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. At that time, Pereira told WBSM he thought the issue had been settled.

“I can’t say I’m not surprised because I kind of figured they’d try to okey-doke me, as they say,” Pereira said in March. “We met with a federal mediator, and I thought it was over. The mediator agreed that I can keep my name, I can keep everything the same way, and I can continue to sell my coffee and sell certain products that we have, certain things, books, shirts, whatnot.”

The appellate court handed down its decision on November 15, 2024, written by Circuit Judge Bruce Selya, and it affirmed the decision of the district court on all of U.S. Ghost Adventures’ claims while asserting that the company’s “challenge to the district court’s assessment of the strength of its marks is haunted by legal confusion.”

In the district court, Judge Sorokin had applied a “four-part framework to determine whether preliminary injunctive relief is warranted” and the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals then examined Sorokin’s decision “for abuse of discretion.”

When it comes to whether or not there is confusion between the two entities, the appellate court took into account eight factors: the similarity of the marks, the similarity of the goods, the relationship between the parties’ channels of trade, the relationship between the parties’ advertising, the classes of prospective purchasers, evidence of actual confusion, the defendant’s intent in adopting its mark, and the strength of the plaintiff’s mark.

“Ghost Adventures gives just short of forty whacks to the district court’s finding that Miss Lizzie’s moniker and hatched posed a low risk of confusing consumers,” Judge Selya wrote.

The decision backed up the district court’s decision that the hatchet logo, while similar, was not identical and therefore not a violation of the U.S. Ghost Adventures trademark.

As for the use of the “Lizzie” name, the appellate court backed up the district court’s decision that the use of the name in “Miss Lizzie’s Coffee” refers to “the lore of Lizzie Borden – which Ghost Adventures does not own – rather than to the mark ‘Lizzie Borden.’ Thus, the meaning associated with the name ‘Miss Lizzie’s Coffee’ is only incidentally similar to that of the ‘Lizzie Borden House.’”

In a footnote, Judge Selya wrote that “Ghost Adventures had not shown that its mark had displaced the story of Lizzie Borden in the minds of consumers…Ghost Adventures does not offer even a specter of a reason to disturb this finding.”

The appellate court also backed up the district court’s finding that although both businesses are considered “hospitality services,” which U.S. Ghost Adventures has the mark for “Lizzie Borden,” they offer different services and experiences to the consumer.

“Ghost Adventures attracts sophisticated tourists who purchase tickets in advance and travel to Fall River to visit the historical site of the Lizzie Borden House, whereas Miss Lizzie’s attracts passersby hoping for a caffeine kick or a bite to eat,” Judge Selya wrote.

It also ruled that “Ghost Adventures’ registration of the mark ‘Lizzie Borden’ did not prohibit other businesses in the hospitality industry from setting up shop in the vicinity of the Lizzie Borden House. Nor did it prohibit such businesses from marketing themselves by the use of Lizzie Borden’s story.”

The appellate court also looked at U.S. Ghost Adventures’ claim that the district court’s “reliance on a disclaimer on Miss Lizzie’s website was problematic.”

The disclaimer reads “Our ghosts are totally independent and not to be confused with any other ghosts!” U.S. Ghost Adventures argued that this disclaimer was not strong enough and that it should not have been enough for the district court in its decision.

“The district court did not mention, much less rely on, this spooky phrase,” Judge Selya wrote in the appellate court’s decision. “Instead, the court discussed a sign taped to Miss Lizzie’s storefront that conspicuously reads: ‘Miss Lizzie’s Coffee is NOT ASSOCIATED, NOR AFFILIATED in any way with the Lizzie Borden Museum or Bed and Breakfast next door, nor any other business.’”

“The court supportably found that this clarification ‘further distinguished the businesses,’” Selya wrote.

The three-judge panel concluded that the district court’s decision was “thorough.”

“We have no difficulty in identifying the relevant factual findings and the reasons why the district court concluded that the facts as found did not support Ghost Adventures’ bid for injunctive relief,” Judge Selya wrote. “The judgment of the district court is affirmed.”

Go Inside Fall River's Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast

This infamous Fall River home is open for tours and overnight stays through U.S. Ghost Adventures. Here are all the rooms you can stay in and the haunted happenings that have taken place in them.

Gallery Credit: Nancy Hall

Lizzie Borden's Maplecroft in Fall River, Massachusetts

UPDATE: Maplecroft's new owners moved in on July 19, 2022 – Lizzie Borden's 162nd birthday. This is now a private residence, please do not trespass on their property.

While the house where Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother were brutally murdered on August 4, 1892 may have recently been purchased, the home where she moved after being acquitted for those same murders is on the market for anyone looking to own a piece of Fall River history.

Gallery Credit: Tim Weisberg