A ghost tour company at the allegedly haunted Lizzie Borden House gave its best (40) whacks in a trademark challenge against a coffee shop next door.

But the Massachusetts federal appeals court didn’t buy the ghost tour firm’s case — a finding that comes full circle from when prosecutors couldn’t prove the allegations that Borden hacked her parents to death with a hatchet.

US Ghost Adventures, LLC, which owns a bed and breakfast at the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River and has a federal trademark on both the name “Lizzie Borden” and a hatchet logo, has lost its trademark infringement lawsuit appeal against “Miss Lizzie’s Coffee.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently agreed with a lower Massachusetts federal district court, which had ruled in opposition to Ghost Adventures and denied a preliminary injunction for the trademark.

The Lizzie Borden House has a storied history that originates with the still-unsolved 1892 murders of Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother. Prosecutors alleged that Borden hacked her parents to death with a hatchet in their family home.

But these allegations were never proven. In the ensuing “trial of the century,” a jury acquitted Borden of all charges.

“This macabre tale not only has permeated the national consciousness but also has turned Borden’s ancestral home into a destination for those with a taste for the supernatural,” the federal appeals court wrote in its ruling. “It is against this grizzly backdrop that the case at hand arises.”

The Ghost Adventures’ trademark on the name “Lizzie Borden” is used in hotel and restaurant services, and its other trademark on a hatchet logo displays a notched blade.

Miss Lizzie’s Coffee recently opened a coffee shop next door to the Lizzie Borden House. The coffee shop also markets itself by reference to the Lizzie Borden saga.

Its storefront signage displays the words “Miss Lizzie’s Coffee” between a cup of coffee and a stylized hatchet spewing blood. A second sign advertises Miss Lizzie’s as “The Most Haunted Coffee Shop in the World!” The hatchets on both signs include handles and dramatic blood splatters.

Since Miss Lizzie’s opened, some visitors have incorrectly assumed that the Lizzie Borden House and Miss Lizzie’s are connected.

“Seven Ghost Adventures employees attested by declaration that various customers have either expressed the belief that the establishments were related or inquired whether such a relationship existed,” the federal appeals court wrote.

“One tour guide explained that guests were frustrated to learn that they could not bring Miss Lizzie’s coffee on their tours of the Lizzie Borden House, having bought the coffee under the erroneous impression that the coffee shop was affiliated with the historical site,” the ruling states. “Another visitor separately attested to his belief that the businesses were affiliated.”

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Ghost Adventures last year ended up filing a federal lawsuit against Miss Lizzie’s for trademark infringement and unfair competition. Ghost Adventures also moved for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction — trying to prevent Miss Lizzie’s from using either the “Lizzie Borden” trademark or the hatchet logo.

Miss Lizzie’s objected, arguing that it had not infringed on either trademark.

The district court in the case explained that Ghost Adventures must show that Miss Lizzie’s “used an imitation of its protected mark in commerce in a way that is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive.” The court ended up concluding that Ghost Adventures had failed to show a likelihood of confusion.

“To begin, the court found that the hatchet displayed on Miss Lizzie’s signage was ‘not at all the hatchet trademarked by Ghost Adventures’ nor even ‘a colorable imitation of it,’ ” the court ruled. “Miss Lizzie’s hatchet has a handle and smooth axe blade that spews blood. Ghost Adventures’ hatchet is bereft of either handle or blood and features a notch halfway along the blade.

“Next, the district court found that Miss Lizzie’s mark associates its business with the historical story of Lizzie Borden, not the mark ‘Lizzie Borden’ that Ghost Adventures owns,” the court added.

The ghost tour company ended up appealing the district court ruling.

“Ghost Adventures gives just short of forty whacks to the district court’s finding that Miss Lizzie’s moniker and hatchet posed a low risk of confusing consumers,” the appeals court wrote.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ultimately affirmed the district court’s ruling.

“The trademarked hatchet features only a notched blade, whereas Miss Lizzie’s bears a handle and a smooth blade,” the court wrote. “Miss Lizzie’s hatchet spews blood, whereas Ghost Adventures’ is spotless. Indeed, it appears that the only similarity between the hatchet logos is that they both depict hatchets. The court, then, did not clearly err in finding that the hatchet logos are facially dissimilar.”

The court later stated in the ruling, “This challenge has no more force than an apparition.”

This sketch of Lizzie Borden was made during her trial in New Bedford. The sketch was made by Louis F. Grant, an artist for a Boston newspaper. (AP Photo/Carl Nesensohn, File)