Seattle Strong Coffee faces trademark fight with Nestl茅 over brand name
Jun 28, 2025, 6:00 AM
The Nestl茅 logo in front of a storefront it operates. (Photo courtesy of The Associated Press)
(Photo courtesy of The Associated Press)
Nestl茅 filed a with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in an attempt to have , a small, locally-based coffee company, change its business name.
Nestl茅, 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, . 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 Nestl茅’s Seattle’s Best mark” and could damage the company, Nestl茅 wrote, according to .
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 Nestl茅 in 2022.
Oeflein estimates Seattle Strong products are now in 350 grocery stores across the Pacific Northwest, according to , as well as in Los Angeles and Texas. He has since launched a to help with legal costs in his fight against Nestl茅.
“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鈥攔oasting and brewing cold brew coffee right here in Seattle,” Oeflein wrote on the GoFundMe. “Now, the Nestl茅 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鈥檛 think that鈥檚 right. So, we鈥檙e fighting back.”
MyNorthwest has reached out to Nestl茅 for comment.
