Starbucks Claims that Macomb County, Michigan Business Is Infringing Trademarked Logo
A story in today's Detroit Free Press tells of a Macomb County, Michigan coffee shop that has been accused by Starbucks of trademark infringement. Like most large companies, Starbucks is very aggressive about policing its intellectual property rights, and that includes making sure that no one else infringes on its trademarks.
The Macomb County business, Conga Coffee & Tea shops, has a logo that consists of a green circle surrounding a silhouette of an elephant. The logo for Starbucks is internationally famous and consists of a split-finned siren in the middle of a green circle. Starbucks claims that the two logos are so similar that Conga's logo is "likely to cause consumers to think that Conga is an authorized licensee of Starbucks." Conga's owners disagree noting that the words in the logo are different, the pictures in the logo are different, and the shades of green in the logos are different.
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. Often the "trademark" and "service mark" are used interchangeably.
Whether the owner of a registered trademark can prevent someone from using a confusingly similar trademark depends on a number of factors. These factors include whether:
1. The trademark is used on competing goods or services. Generally, goods or services are considered competing if the sale of one is likely to influence the sales level of the other.
2. Consumers are likely to be confused by the dual use of the trademark.
3. The trademark is used in the same part of the country or is used relative to related goods or services. Related goods and services are those that are likely to be noticed by the same customers, even if those goods or services don't necessarily compete with each other.
Federal trademark law provides stiff monetary and injunctive penalties for trademark infringement.
