Kaffee

​​Copyright © Das KaffeeHaus von Frau Burkhart, All Rights Reserved.

All trademarks and brands are property of their respective owners.

ALL proprietary logos, pictures, images and design on this site are official trademarks of

Das KaffeeHaus von Frau Burkhart© to include our slogans "The Kaffee Blitz Begins. ©" & "The Kaffee Blitzkrieg Begins. ©".

Any use without the expressed written consent of Das KaffeeHaus von Frau Burkhart© is strictly prohibited .

'Star Bock' beer has coffee giant Starbucks steamed

Judge to decide whether bar owner must draft a new name for his brew

GALVESTON - The owner of a small Galveston bar will find out in August if he can resume selling Star Bock beer despite protests from the worldwide Starbucks coffee chain that people associate the beer with Starbucks products.

U.S. District Judge Sam Kent heard testimony Monday in the trademark infringement case between Rex "Wrecks" Bell, owner of the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe here, and Seattle-based Starbucks.

Bell maintains he got the idea for Star Bock beer in 2002 after a customer asked for one Texas beer, Lone Star, and changed his order to another Texas beer, Shiner Bock.

"I thought it was just a great name for a beer, especially for a Texas beer," Bell told Kent during a non-jury trial that lasted five hours Monday.

Bell served the beer in his bar, a side-street haunt for local folks and fans of alternative country musicians, from May 2003 until he ran out of the brew about a month ago.

Wanting to go national

Colleen P. Chapman, Starbucks brand strategy director, told Kent on Monday that the company goes to great lengths to differentiate itself from competitors and protect its reputation for consistent high quality.

"We've learned that any injury to that reputation has a negative impact on our brand," Chapman said.

Bell testified he paid $355 to register the trademark Starbock after searching federal trademark records and finding that no one else had registered the name. He sold his beer under the two-word name Star Bock.

Starbucks called to the stand University of Houston marketing professor and consultant Edward Blair, who testified that when 150-member groups of consumers were asked in an Internet survey whether they thought a beer called Star Bock or Starbock was associated with another company, 48 percent said Star Bock made them think of Starbucks and 58 percent linked Starbock to Starbucks.

Bell attorney John Egbert) introduced into evidence two letters from U.S. patent officials informing Bell that federal officials found no active or pending trademarks similar to Starbock.

Bell said that no one except Starbucks executives and lawyers suggested any similarity between his beer's name and Starbucks.

"Hundreds of people came in (the Acoustic Cafe), and no one ever, ever associated my beer with that coffee company," Bell testified.

'It's not coffee'

"It's not coffee," Bell said. "No one can own every word that comes after 'Star.' "

On cross-examination, however, Starbucks lawyers suggested Bell is well aware of how similar Starbock and Star Bock are to Starbucks and wants to cash in on the publicity the case has generated around the world.

The beverage battle first began when Starbucks' legal team got wind of Bell's trademark filing and started sending warning letters, then raised a formal objection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But it was Bell who forced the battle into a showdown when he had Egbert file for a declaratory judgment in Kent's court allowing Bell to market his beer as Star Bock.

Starbucks countersued, seeking an order preventing Bell from using the name and making him cover its hefty attorneys' fees.

Both sides met in an attempt to resolve their differences on their own, and Bell said Monday that Starbucks' people only claimed they wanted to settle things "amicably."

"Amicably meant that I just go away, tear up all my logos . and just disappear," he said.

Kent said he expects to issue a ruling in the case by Aug. 19.