DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) — Starbucks sued international and local unions representing its employees in Iowa federal court Wednesday, claiming the unions violated the coffee chain's trademarks while making statements on social media in support of Palestine that triggered outrage from critics and calls to boycott Starbucks.
Starbucks accused the Iowa City Starbucks Workers Union of posting and reposting messages "advocating for the continuation of violence against Israel and cessation of U.S. aid to Israel," including in the complaint examples of the union reposting messages that say "Palestine will be free" and encouraging unions to engage in the Palestinian-led BDS movement, meaning boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. The account also shared information about demonstrations in support of Palestine.
The social media posts led customers to attribute the sentiments to Starbucks, because the union used images that closely resemble the company's logo, the chain says in its U.S. District Court in Des Moines complaint.
Service Employees International Union and Starbucks Workers United, which are named in the suit, did not respond to a request for comment by Courthouse News Service Wednesday.
Workers United, however, filed a complaint of its own against Starbucks on Wednesday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, seeking a declaratory judgment that the union may continue to use the Starbucks Workers United name and logo, despite the company’s trademark infringement claim. The Workers United complaint also claims Starbucks’ public statements asserting that Workers United supports “terrorism, hate and violence” are an anti-union effort to attack the union’s reputation.
Starbucks, for its part, claims that because of the union's social media posts using its trademarks and copyrights, “Starbucks received hundreds of complaints from customers and other members of the public in the immediate aftermath, chastising and singling out Starbucks — not defendants — for supporting Hamas.”
“Shortly after defendants’ posts, the hashtag #BoycottStarbucks was trending on X, and people all over the world were ‘tweeting’ and posting on various social media accounts, falsely stating that Starbucks supported terrorist organizations, the killing of innocent civilians, and multiple other things Starbucks unequivocally condemns,” the complaint says.
One customer called the Seattle Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Oct. 11 and threatened to “shut down” the roastery and all Starbucks stores, the complaint states. The caller said he hoped the Starbucks employee who took the call found himself “in a war dying on the frontlines.” A swastika was painted on the front door, and Stars of David were painted on the door and an exterior window of a Starbucks store in Rhode Island.
Starbucks’ suit makes seven claims, including trademark and copyright infringement, and the company seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against trademark and copyright infringements by the defendants.
The Starbucks lawsuit was filed by R. Scott Johnson of Des Moines’ Fredrikson & Byron and Peter M. Brody and other lawyers with the Washington, D.C. firm Ropes & Gray.
The Starbucks Workers Union complaint was filed by Eric Young of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.
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