Siren Got Rid of the Letters "Starbucks"

Starbucks revised its logo for the fourth time (1971, 1987, 1992 and now in 2001), see overview here.
It was announced already January 5, 2011 by senior creative manager Mike P. here.

Logo change announced on Hong Kong TV on the MTR
Photo: Danny Friedmann

However, only May 27, 2011 the new logo was introduced in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. To change a brand like that is a huge operation, which starts with the design and customer surveys, then the registration of the trademark for the new variant logo.

The rationale behind the move, in the words of Mike P:

"From the start, we wanted to recognize and honor the important equities of the iconic Starbucks logo. So we broke down the four main parts of the mark – color, shape, typeface and the Siren. After hundreds of explorations, we found the answer in simplicity. Removing the words from the mark, bringing in the green, and taking the Siren out of her ring. For forty years she’s represented coffee, and now she is the star."

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Chinese Coffee Cats, Obscene Brand "Star Tuuuut" and the Difference Between B and F

Do you remember the Starbucks versus Xingbake case? See here. But there are many more coffee(copy)cats in China, see here. Confusion between the Starbucks and Star tuuuut might has a lot to do with culture or rather language. Confusion might not be so big in Western countries (although it was about the tort: passing-off and dealt with an unregistered trademark in a Common Law country, it reminded me of the Advocaat case), but for many Chinese the difference between a B and F in the second syllable might not have a big impact on the total picture of the word.
IP Dragon received this picture of a coffee shop in China. Not completely PC but then again it's Friday.

Thank you P.

TGIF, so have a good weekend!
IP Dragon

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No, I Don't Believe the Starbucks' counsel Who Said: "Chinese Customers Refill Cup With Coffee From Other Brands"

Mark Aoki-Fordham, director and corporate counsel at Starbucks Coffee Company said something ... well outlandish:

“We are still trying to educate Chinese customers about why our coffee is a good beverage to drink at all times of day -- and we’ve found that they are not the most loyal,” Aoki-Fordham noted. “They love our brand; they’ll come in and buy a cup of coffee, and they’ll keep the cup with our logo facing forward as they walk, but they’ll refill it throughout the day with other brands of coffee!”

If you buy a cup of coffee from another brand you will get it in a cup from that brand. Then it is just too much of a hassle to change the caffeinated liquid to the Starbucks cup.
So I don't believe that Chinese customers are trademark counterfeiters on a not so commercial scale. Do you believe him?

Read the Knowledge Wharton Marketing article called 'From Venti Lattes to Spider-Man: Adapting Global Brands for Success in China and India' here.

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Starbucks Is Coming From Venus, Copycats from St. Mars

Jamon Yerger is founder of Southern Perspective Shenzhen ("China Law Reference, doing it right the first time"), a consulting company in the bustling city of Shenzhen that provides advice on a range of business functions; the majority of which deal with manufacturing in China and legal protection for foreign companies engaged in supply chain activities. Mr Yerger wanted to go to a Starbucks. And he did not mean Starbucks in the generic sense, as some people already use it for any place where you can buy a daily doses of caffeine. Although "colors, script, umbrellas and even the glass awning over the doors" were similar to his old Starbucks, he found out, to his surprise, it was not coffee shop of this also in China pretty well known brand (I am not referring to the legal term well known mark. This would be the case if it is well known in China, and acknowledged as such by China). They only used a different name: St. Mars. So the place had the look and feel of Starbucks. IP Dragon agrees with Mr Yerger's opinion that St. Mars is "clearly hitchhiking" on the Starbucks brand. So what could it mean in legalese?

The question is whether Starbucks registered the name Starbucks Coffee in China. If you are at the trademark search site, sponsored by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (first select "Search of identical or similar TMs", then fill in class 30 for non-alcoholic beverages), here, you will find that Starbucks has several trademarks. You could then argue that Starbucks Coffee and St Mars Coffee, using the identical font, and the identical colour, is confusingly similar and infringes Starbucks trademark. Maybe Starbucks separately trademarked the colour, which would lead to trademark infringement. The design of parts of the place could be patented in China. And if the copycat cannot be stopped by trademark law or design patents, copyright law might be a place of last resort. China is coming up with a Tort Law (December 5th, was the deadline for submission of comments), see here, and maybe the legal figure of passing off will be introduced, which I doubt, since it is more of a Common Law legal figure. Anyways read Mr Yerger's article, see the pictures of the two places and decide for yourself here.

Read also Starbucks versus Xingbake here.

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IP Dragon Weekend Game: Dyslectic Or Counterfeit

Ms Hannah Wood has an intriguing article about names very similar to famous ones in China. See Ms Wood's article with pictures, here.

Can you guess which are the original brands? The answer can be found by clicking on the links.

• Pizza Huh
• Bucksstar coffee
• o Mc McDnoald's
• Dama
• Adidos
• Farrari
• KLC
• Lexus = Lexus, but they do not make children's bike
• Lokasta
• Mak Dak
• Naik
• Nokla
• No more flakes
• Polystation
• Sonia
• Panosaonic
• A&G

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