Starbucks’ swift of heavily caffeinated lawyers have honed in on a new target: a tiny, one-man coffee kiosk in North London. Star Box Coffee has been forced to change a name after a minute from a tellurian coffee hulk indicted it of infringing on Starbucks’ heading rights, the Camden New Journal reports.
It seems rarely doubtful that anyone would indeed ever consider Star Box was associated to Starbucks, deliberation a kiosk’s logo, typeface, and tone intrigue are totally opposite — no mermaids in sight. Nonetheless, a owners of a kiosk, a 52-year-old Iranian interloper named Nasser Kamali, complied with a coffee giant’s ask by stealing “Star” from his signage and menu, revelation a New Journal he knew he’d be incompetent to delight over a large house in court.
“Trademark law is there to strengthen code identity. In this instance it was too tighten to a code and could lead to such confusion,” Starbucks pronounced in a statement.
Kamali says Starbucks offering him £300 (about $370, or a homogeneous of approximately 83 grande Frappuccinos) as a “goodwill payment,” though he’s refused to take a money on principle.
Interestingly, a Google hunt for Star Box Coffee in London brings adult usually formula for Starbucks, so maybe a kiosk’s strange business name wasn’t so good for SEO.
It’s not a initial time Starbucks has sicced a authorised group on a likewise named coffee shop: In 2014, it systematic a headline-making LA coffee emporium called Dumb Starbucks to stop regulating a name. Dumb Starbucks incited out to be a attempt propagated by Comedy Central uncover Nathan For You, and expected would have been stable underneath satire law, though it was shortly close down by a health dialect for not carrying a correct licensure.
Will Starbucks take emanate with a new cannabis-themed New Jersey grill called Weedbukx? Stay tuned.
• Starbucks vs Star Box [Camden New Journal]
• Real Starbucks: Dumb Starbucks ‘Cannot Use Our Name’ [E]
• More Starbucks Coverage [E]