Lizzie Borden trademark case given 40 whacks by First Circuit

BOSTON (CN) — A trademark case brought by the current owner of accused axe-murderer Lizzie Borden’s home against a coffee shop next door called “Miss Lizzie’s Coffee” has been chopped into pieces by the First Circuit.

The home in Fall River, Massachusetts, which bills itself as “America’s most haunted house,” operates as a bed-and-breakfast and offers “ghost tours” and “ghost hunts.” It trades on the legend of Borden, who was famously accused (but acquitted) of murdering her father and stepmother there in 1892.

The resulting murder trial received enormous nationwide publicity and led to the famous rope-skipping rhyme, “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks, and when she saw what she had done she gave her father 41.”

The B&B objected when a coffee shop opened up next door that called itself “Miss Lizzie’s Coffee,” promoted itself as "The Most Haunted Coffee Shop in the World!" and featured a logo with a coffee cup and a blood-stained hatchet, leading some customers to believe that the businesses were related.

But the court was unimpressed. “Miss Lizzie's reference to ‘Lizzie’ was to the lore of Lizzie Borden — which [the B&B] does not own — rather than to the mark ‘Lizzie Borden,’” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Bruce Selya in a 21-page decision issued late Friday.

“The parties sell and market different goods and services to different consumers,” the Ronald Reagan appointee wrote. The B&B “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.”

Although both businesses use a hatchet logo, the designs are very different. “It appears that the only similarity between the hatchet logos is that they both depict hatchets," Selya wrote for the panel, which also included Chief U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron, a Barack Obama appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí, a Joe Biden appointee.

Lizzie Borden’s father Andrew was a wealthy businessman whose estate was valued at $300,000, or about $10 million in current dollars, yet he was so frugal that his home didn’t have indoor plumbing. There were considerable tensions between Lizzie and her father and stepmother Abby; Lizzie believed that Abby had married Andrew for his money and there were suggestions that Andrew was making numerous gifts of real estate to Abby’s family.

The trial featured conflicting testimony and led to an acquittal; no one else was charged with the murders. Lizzie moved to a new house in Fall River and lived there until her death in 1927 although she was ostracized by local society. At her death she was worth almost $6 million in today’s dollars.

The story has never ceased to fascinate people and has been retold frequently in novels and films and even a musical, a ballet and an opera. Over the years, characters based on Lizzie have been portrayed by actresses ranging from Lillian Gish to “Bewitched” star Elizabeth Montgomery (a distant cousin of Lizzie’s), Christina Ricci and Chloë Sevigny.