ASTORIA, Ore. — A federal judge says the name “Sambuck’s” above a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop is too similar to coffee giant Starbucks and must be changed.
Owner Sam Buck opened the shop in 2000, naming it after herself.
She said today that she had few details of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty of Portland. She faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees.
“The judge said I willfully infringed on (Starbucks’) trademark, that I diluted their trademark,” she said.
She was faced with erasing all traces of the name, from coffee cups to the sign outside to business cards.
AP via The Seattle Times
Starbucks offered Ms. Buck $500 to give up the shop’s name; she refused and Starbucks sued.
Were they wrong?
Yes, they were wrong to offer so little. Ms. Buck had legitimate defenses to the trademark infringement claim, and it costs thousands of dollars, not $500, to change the name of even a small business. I’ve seen companies that are a lot smaller than Starbucks offer a lot more to potential defendants in similar situations.
And who knows whether some intrepid attorney will convince the Ninth Circuit to reverse, creating a precedent that would hurt Starbucks in its efforts to protect its trademark.
Not to mention the bad publicity. They should have offered her a lot more.
I agree with Colorado Luis – Starbucks should have offered more.
In most garden-variety trademark infringement suits, there is a standard involved called “likelihood of confusion.” That is, the plaintiff has to prove that actual or potential customers will be confused by the allegedly infringing trademark. But the owners of a famous trademark don’t have to prove confusion. So all Starbucks had to do was argue that somehow their mark was being diluted or tarnished by Ms. Buck’s mark. I’ve not read the opinion, but somehow I have a hard time believing there was any real dilution here. Although I respect Starbucks’ right to protect their tradename, the amount that this multi-zillion dollar corporation offered a small business owner to all but shut down is embarrassing.