Surfside vs. Skimmers: A Vodka Lemonade Brand Says Anheuser-Busch Stole Its Look

By Josh Gerben, Esq.

Published: October 22, 2025 Published: October 22, 2025

A Philadelphia company says the biggest brewer in America has knocked off its best-selling product.

Stateside Brands, maker of the hit Surfside canned cocktails, has filed a federal trademark lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch of mimicking its signature cans for a competing vodka drink called “Skimmers.”

Stateside’s lawsuit alleges that Anheuser-Busch’s newly launched canned cocktail “Skimmers” copies the distinctive can design of the Surfside cocktails, from the color gradients to the sun motif. It claims that the design is so close that consumers will likely believe that Skimmers is affiliated with or made by Stateside.

About the Surfside brand

Surfside is produced by Stateside Brands, a Philadelphia company that was founded in 2013. Stateside says it experienced a “meteoric rise” in 2022, when it first introduced its Surfside canned iced tea and vodka lemonade drinks. Since then, the company claims to have sold millions of cases, attributing the product’s popularity not only to its quality ingredients and innovative flavors, but also to its instantly recognizable can design.

The distinctive Surfside cans feature:

1. a stylized gradient along the bottom third of the can made up of layered, color-shifting bands
2. a white background overlaid with a sun design
3. a colored rim at the top that matches the color scheme below.

According to Stateside, this “combination of elements” has become a signature visual identifier (or trade dress) that consumers associate exclusively with Surfside canned cocktails.

The trademark infringement claim

In 2025, Anheuser-Busch introduced a canned cocktail made with vodka, which was called “Skimmers.” Stateside believes that the Skimmers’ packaging copies the Surfside design, mimicking its overall look and feel.

In the complaint, Stateside includes side-by-side images of Surfside and Skimmers cans, which Stateside calls a “striking similarity.”

The complaint also contends that Anheuser-Busch “could have selected from a vast universe of design elements” but instead “opted to mimic Stateside’s trade dress” and “free ride off its popular and successful Surfside design.”

Stateside believes that the alleged copying harms both consumers and its brand by creating the impression that Skimmers is affiliated with or made by Stateside.

In the complaint, Stateside seeks a permanent injunction prohibiting Anheuser-Busch from selling any product that uses the Surfside trade dress or any similar design. The company also seeks:

• All profits earned by Anheuser-Busch from Skimmers sales
• Treble damages for willful infringement
• Punitive damages
• Attorneys’ fees

Do Stateside’s infringement claims hold water?

Having reviewed the complaint and the can designs side by side, the similarities are evident. The Surfside and Skimmers cans share nearly identical layouts, colors, and visual cues.

The central legal issue will be whether consumers are likely to be confused, that is, whether they might believe Skimmers is another line produced by or affiliated with Stateside. That determination would typically come out during the discovery phase of the lawsuit. This is because both parties would be able to conduct consumer surveys and produce other marketplace evidence that shows the confusion exists (or that it doesn’t exist).

That said, Stateside faces a notable challenge: the company never obtained a federal trademark registration for the Surfside can design.

While trade dress can be protected under common law without registration, the absence of a trademark registration on the can design weakens Stateside’s enforcement position. Registering the can design as a trademark would have provided a presumption of ownership and distinctiveness, both of which are helpful in a case like this.

The lack of registration doesn’t mean Stateside can’t win the case, but it leaves a major hole in its trademark strategy. To prevail, the company will need to prove that consumers have come to associate the Surfside packaging specifically with Stateside. And it doesn’t walk into court with the “presumption of ownership” for the design. That’s a tougher, more evidence-heavy road.

From my perspective as a trademark attorney, this case is a reminder to every company with distinctive packaging: you can and should protect your product design through trademark filings. Doing so early can make enforcement much easier later.

Still, I believe Stateside has a compelling argument. We’re living in a “dupe culture” era, one where even major corporations copy the look of smaller, more innovative brands to ride their wave of success. To me, that’s at best laziness, and at worst, trademark infringement.

Anheuser-Busch had every opportunity to create something new. Instead, it chose to echo the visual identity of a smaller competitor. I hope Stateside prevails, not just for its own sake, but to reinforce the idea that “duping” another company’s product should not be an acceptable business practice.

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Josh Gerben, Esq.

Josh Gerben, Esq. is a nationally recognized trademark attorney and the founder of Gerben IP. Since launching the firm in 2008, he has overseen the registration of over 8,000 trademarks and handled over 500 trademark disputes. Josh's practice focuses on building and defending global trademark portfolios for clients. These clients include entrepreneurs, private equity-backed businesses, athletes, celebrities, and public companies. Frequently quoted by major media outlets like CNBC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, Josh is widely regarded as a leading authority in trademark law.