Christi Lower built Highline Spirits from scratch. The woman-owned Michigan distillery launched in 2021 with a whiskey brand and a name she trademarked before opening her first taproom. When Kate Upton’s celebrity-backed Vosa Spirits started selling canned vodka cocktails under the “High Line” name in May 2023, Lower faced a choice: accept the confusion or fight for what she had legally protected. She fought. In early November 2025, Vosa agreed to discontinue the “High Line” name entirely and pay an undisclosed settlement sum. A small distillery owner in Dexter, Michigan, had just won a trademark battle against a Florida company backed by one of the most recognizable names in American modeling.
The victory came at a cost. “Nobody won in this situation,” Lower told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “I protected what was ours, but it also cost us a lot of time and money.” The lawsuit, filed March 10, 2025, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, consumed resources Lower had planned to use for Highline’s own RTD cocktail expansion. Her company operates two taprooms, one in Dexter that opened in 2023 and another in Plymouth that followed in 2024. Growth plans included canned cocktails to complement the whiskey line that built her reputation. Instead, she spent seven months in litigation.
Lower had the trademark. She had the legal right. But exercising that right required litigation that distracted from growing her business. Vosa Spirits, based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, had marketing muscle and celebrity cachet. Lower had something more valuable in court: a federal registration that predated their product launch by seventeen months.
Why Federal Registration Made the Difference
Lower’s trademark application hit the USPTO on December 8, 2021, seventeen months before Vosa launched “High Line” for canned cocktails. That timing gap changed everything. Federal registration creates nationwide constructive notice to any subsequent user that someone already claims rights to a mark. Vosa couldn’t argue they didn’t know. The trademark was sitting in the federal database, publicly searchable, when they chose their product name.
The presumption of validity matters in litigation. A federal registration shifts the burden. Instead of Lower proving she owned the mark, Vosa would have to prove she didn’t. Combined with her December 2021 priority date, the registration gave Lower leverage that celebrity backing and deeper pockets couldn’t overcome. Registration doesn’t just protect against copycats. It creates the legal infrastructure for enforcement when conflicts arise.
Lower’s attorneys sent two cease-and-desist letters before filing suit. Vosa ignored both. That response, or lack of response, transformed the case. The lawsuit alleged willful infringement, claiming Vosa knew about Lower’s prior rights and chose to continue using “High Line” anyway. Willful infringement isn’t just about proving confusion. It signals to courts that the defendant deliberately disregarded existing trademark rights. It strengthens damages claims. It makes settlement negotiations more expensive for the accused infringer.
The cease-and-desist letters created a paper trail. They documented that Vosa had actual knowledge of Lower’s trademark before the lawsuit was filed. Once a company receives notice of prior rights and continues using a confusingly similar mark, claims of innocent infringement become untenable. The letters Vosa ignored became evidence that strengthened Lower’s position.
Vosa stopped production of High Line products over the summer of 2025. By November, the settlement was final: complete abandonment of the “High Line” mark plus monetary compensation. Lower achieved total victory on the core trademark question without going to trial.
The RTD Gold Rush and Celebrity Brand Wars
The U.S. ready-to-drink cocktail market hit $903.4 million in 2024 and is growing at a 15.3% compound annual rate through 2030. Spirit-based RTD cocktails specifically are projected to grow at 22.9% annually through 2030. Every beverage company wants shelf space in this category. Every celebrity with a lifestyle brand sees an opportunity. The growth trajectory explains why companies rush to launch without clearing their marks first. Speed to market feels urgent when competitors are flooding the shelves monthly.
Kate Upton joined Vosa Spirits as co-owner in October 2023, bringing marketing reach and name recognition to the Florida-based company. The announcement came months after Vosa had already launched the High Line product. Snoop Dogg launched Cali Cocktails in June 2024. Bacardi partnered with Coca-Cola in September 2024. The RTD segment has become a battlefield where established spirits companies, celebrity entrepreneurs, and craft producers all compete for the same consumer attention and retail distribution.
Celebrity equity brings distribution advantages and media coverage. What it doesn’t bring is trademark clearance. Vosa’s failure to clear “High Line” before launch demonstrates a common mistake: assuming marketing firepower protects against intellectual property claims. It doesn’t. A-list backing won’t override a prior trademark registration. The Michigan connection adds irony to the story. Upton, a Whirlpool heir from St. Joseph, Michigan, backed a brand that ended up in trademark litigation against a Michigan distillery owner who beat her to the USPTO by nearly two years.
Lower’s experience reveals the asymmetric risk small producers face. “As our lawyer said to us, sometimes it’s just really expensive to be right,” she told Crain’s. Federal registration creates leverage that enables settlements without forcing small business owners to outspend celebrity-backed competitors through trial. But even with that leverage, trademark litigation delayed Highline’s own RTD launch and consumed capital that could have funded growth. Lower won. The victory still cost her.
Clearance Before Launch, Not Litigation After
Vosa’s “High Line” launch in May 2023 occurred seventeen months after Lower filed her federal trademark application. A basic USPTO search would have revealed the conflict. The cost of trademark clearance runs a fraction of what Vosa ultimately paid in settlement and brand abandonment. A professional search before committing to the name could have prevented a product line write-off and settlement payment.
When I conduct clearance searches for beverage brands, I’m looking for exactly this scenario: an existing registration in the same product category with a confusingly similar name. “Highline” for whiskey and “High Line” for vodka cocktails both cover alcoholic beverages in Class 33. The overlap creates obvious conflict. A search before Vosa committed to the name would have flagged Lower’s registration and saved the company from building a product line it would have to abandon.
The search process isn’t complicated. Federal trademark databases are publicly accessible. Attorneys conducting clearance reviews check for exact matches, phonetic equivalents, and visually similar marks in related product classes. “Highline” and “High Line” would have appeared as an immediate red flag for any alcoholic beverage product. The fact that Lower’s registration covered whiskey and Vosa’s product was vodka cocktails wouldn’t have saved them. Both fall within Class 33, and consumers encountering both products could reasonably assume a common source.
Lower registered her mark in 2021, before expanding into taprooms in Dexter and Plymouth, before planning RTD products. Establishing trademark rights early creates the protection that made this settlement possible. If she had waited until after building her brand, if she had launched without federal registration, the dynamics would have reversed. A celebrity-backed competitor with earlier use could have forced her to rebrand instead.
The lesson applies to any business entering a competitive product category. Clear before you commit. Register before you build. The $225-$600 USPTO filing fee per class becomes trivial compared to abandoning a product line and paying settlement damages after launch. Vosa learned that lesson after building packaging, distribution, and marketing around a name they couldn’t keep. Lower learned that her early investment in federal registration gave her the leverage to win against a company with far more resources.
Protecting Your Beverage Brand Investment
The RTD market is crowded and getting more competitive. Celebrity-backed brands, major spirit companies, and craft producers are all fighting for the same shelf space and consumer attention. If you’re launching a beverage brand or expanding an existing line into new product categories, trademark clearance isn’t optional. The cost of rebranding after launch, or worse, settling a lawsuit, dwarfs the investment in proper clearance upfront.
My practice focuses on helping beverage brands secure trademark protection before conflicts arise. I conduct clearance searches across federal registrations, state databases, and common law uses. I prepare USPTO applications and guide clients through the registration process. Whether you’re launching a new brand or expanding into RTD products like Highline planned, I can help you understand what’s out there and avoid expensive surprises.
If you’re developing a beverage brand and want to protect your investment, contact me for a consultation. Let’s make sure you’re building on solid trademark ground.
