A Win For The Bucks
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For Starbucks executives and lawyers, it may have been simple: force HaidaBucks, a small, under-funded business in a tiny Canadian village on a remote island, to change its name. Unfortunately for Starbucks, it has turned into a “David vs. Goliath” legal and PR nightmare that won't go away, with thousands of people across Canada and the US boycotting the company because of its tactics.
HaidaBucks, in the village of Masset, is owned by three Haida men and one man married to a Haida woman. The First Nation has used the term “bucks” to identify young males for decades. Hence, the name HaidaBucks. Three of the four owners played on a basketball team of the same name some years ago, and decided to use HaidaBucks as the name for their small coffee-house/restaurant. Notes co-owner, “for us, it's about pride in our heritage. We are young men of the Haida Nation – Haida Bucks. We have a legal right to use the name and we will continue to do so.”
Starbucks sent the owners a cease and desist letter in March, 2003. HaidaBucks believed the letter to be spurious and ignored it. When the law firm threatened a suit, Joseph Arvay of Arvay Finlay agreed to represent the small café. (Arvay is intimately familiar with the Haida Nation; he is representing them in their landmark land claim case.) In April, the two sides exchanged letters. Starbucks offered to let HaidaBucks wait until the end of the year to change their name. The young Natives refused, countering that they would keep their name and wanted Starbucks to admit it was not a trademark infringement to do so.
A full two months after HaidaBucks' letter, Starbucks sent HaidaBucks a letter that seemed to claim victory, but that claim appears to be premature. In the letter, Starbucks asserted that the small shop had changed its logo, its name and its signage. The letter also claims that HaidaBucks has agreed not to move or expand its business outside of Haida Gwaii, the island on which the restaurant is currently located.
The owners of HaidaBucks vehemently deny making any such changes or agreements. Willis Parnell, another co-owner of HaidaBucks said “Starbucks didn't do enough research. Our name hasn't changed; our graphics haven't changed. And they're not going to.”
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@ August 29, 2003