Seattle Strong Coffee faces trademark fight with Nestlé over brand name
Jun 28, 2025, 6:00 AM
The Nestlé logo in front of a storefront it operates. (Photo courtesy of The Associated Press)
(Photo courtesy of The Associated Press)
Nestlé filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in an attempt to have Seattle Strong, a small, locally-based coffee company, change its business name.
Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company owning and operating more than 2,000 brands around the world, claimed Seattle Strong’s name infringes on the coffee brand it recently acquired, Seattle’s Best. The food and beverage giant argued Seattle Strong’s name is too similar to Seattle’s Best, causing confusion among customers.
The similarity is also “likely to dilute the distinctiveness of Nestlé’s Seattle’s Best mark” and could damage the company, Nestlé wrote, according to Axios.
Evan Oeflein, the founder of Seattle Strong Coffee Company, started the business as a class project at the University of Washington (UW) in 2017. Seattle’s Best was obtained by Nestlé in 2022.
Oeflein estimates Seattle Strong products are now in 350 grocery stores across the Pacific Northwest, according to FOX 13, as well as in Los Angeles and Texas. He has since launched a GoFundMe to help with legal costs in his fight against Nestlé.
“We started Seattle Strong Coffee as students at the UW back in 2017. What began as a class project grew into a full-time business—roasting and brewing cold brew coffee right here in Seattle,” Oeflein wrote on the GoFundMe. “Now, the Nestlé corporation, a multinational conglomerate based over 5,000 miles away in Switzerland, is telling us our name infringes on their rights. Apparently, only they can use the name ‘Seattle.’ We don’t think that’s right. So, we’re fighting back.”
MyNorthwest has reached out to Nestlé for comment.
Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest
