If you thought Skimmers, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) entrant into the vodka-based tea segment, looked a bit too similar to the space’s lead brand Surfside, you’re not alone.
Philadelphia-based Stateside Brands LLC, the parent company of Surfside hard tea and lemonade, filed a complaint against A-B in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday. In the lawsuit, Stateside alleges A-B violated the Lanham Act by committing trade dress infringement and using unfair competition.
“Anheuser-Busch could have selected from a vast universe of design elements to create a can that stood on its own,” Stateside wrote. “Instead, it opted to mimic Stateside and freeride off its popular and successful Surfside design, product, reputation and goodwill to gain an unfair marketplace boost – at the expense of both Stateside and consumers alike.
“Stateside therefore seeks to enjoin Anheuser-Busch’s unauthorized use of Stateside’s Surfside trade dress and to recover actual damages, Anheuser-Busch’s profits and other relief, including costs and attorneys’ fees,” the company continued.
Surfside rolled out in 2022 to “overnight success that took the industry by storm,” the company wrote. Last year, the brand sold 4.9 million cases of ready-to-drink (RTD) hard iced tea and lemonade, according to the complaint. Year-to-date through mid-September, Surfside’s depletions (sales to retailers) reached nearly 8 million cases, about a 150% increase over last year, Stateside CEO Clem Pappas said last month during an episode of the Brewbound Podcast.
Both Surfside and Skimmers use “a stylized gradient design on the bottom third of the can comprised of layered color-shifting bands, a white background overlaid with a sun design and the product trademark in the top two-thirds of the can and a colored rim around the top of the can drawn from the color scheme of the bottom of the can,” according to the complaint.
Stateside alleges A-B “knowingly and willfully copied the Surfside trade dress to leverage and take advantage of the substantial goodwill Stateside has tirelessly developed.”
A-B introduced Skimmers in April 2025, but the brand has yet to take a meaningful amount of share in the spirits-based hard tea segment. As Brewbound’s sibling publication BevNET reported this summer, four brands account for 97% of overall off-premise spirits-based tea flavored RTD sales, according to 3 Tier Beverages: Boston Beer’s Sun Cruiser, Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips, Good Boy Vodka Cocktails and Surfside.
Hard tea accounts for 8.8% of all dollar sales (down from 9.1% last year) in the $5 billion progressive adult beverage (PAB) segment, which includes malt-, wine- and spirits-based offerings, according to NIQ data provided by 3 Tier. Surfside is the No. 2 growth brand in the segment, behind only Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz. Sun Cruiser (No. 4) and Good Boy (No. 12) also rank among the top 15 growth brands.
Stateside has demanded a trial by jury, as well as the following:
- A judge-issued order that Skimmers has committed trade dress infringement;
- A permanent injunction against A-B from further infringements;
- An order to A-B to “immediately tender to Stateside” all Skimmers product, ads, promotional materials and other materials featuring “anything confusingly similar” to Surfside;
- An order requiring A-B to direct all Skimmers-derived profits to Stateside;
- Punitive damages and interest accrued before and after judgement, as well as attorneys’ fees.
“We believe this lawsuit is without merit and will vigorously defend against it,” an A-B spokesperson told Brewbound.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. ET on October 23 to include a statement from A-B.