HaidaBucks Prepares to Defend Against Starbucks
lisa | 28.04.2003 23:58
HaidaBucks, a small, indigenous-owned cafe on Haida Gwaii (pronounced phonetically: Hi da (long a) Gwhy) received an outpouring of support in the week following news report that it is being sued by Starbucks for trademark infringement. Initial concerns about the cost of mounting a legal challenge were put to rest when thousands of people called and emailed to offer help and donations for a legal defense fund. Among the first callers was prominent barrister Joseph Arvay of Arvay Finlay Barristers.
This is not the first time Mr. Arvay has worked with Canada's indigenous peoples. He represented Delgamuukw before the Supreme Court of Canada and is now counsel for the Haida Nation in their aboriginal title claim. Co-owner Darin Swanson is ecstatic aobut the shop's good fortune. "No one's better for this case than Joseph Arvay." Darin said. "He knows the law in this case extremely well and knows the Haida people initmately. This is better than we ever hoped for."
HaidaBucks also announced their new web site - www.haidabuckscafe.com - created by someone they'd never met before making the news. What began as one of many calls to offer moral support quickly turned into a discussion about a web site to call attention to the cafe's plight, Swanson said. "I'd never met the man on the other end of the phone, but two days later he had a web site written, designed and published on the Internet for us. It's really helped spread the news. In the first 5 days, we received over 20 thousand visitors." Swanson added that they intend to update the site regularly to keep supporters informed of the latest activity.
HaidaBucks was founded in May, 1999, by four members of the Haida Nation. Located in the village of Masset ( on Haida Gwaii, in the Queen Charlotte Islands off of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada) the cafe serves salads, soups, and a variety of sandwiches and subs in addition to it's line of hot and cold beverages.
Contacts: Darin Swanson or Willis Parnell
hbucks@island.net
web site
http://www.haidabuckscafe.com
This is not the first time Mr. Arvay has worked with Canada's indigenous peoples. He represented Delgamuukw before the Supreme Court of Canada and is now counsel for the Haida Nation in their aboriginal title claim. Co-owner Darin Swanson is ecstatic aobut the shop's good fortune. "No one's better for this case than Joseph Arvay." Darin said. "He knows the law in this case extremely well and knows the Haida people initmately. This is better than we ever hoped for."
HaidaBucks also announced their new web site - www.haidabuckscafe.com - created by someone they'd never met before making the news. What began as one of many calls to offer moral support quickly turned into a discussion about a web site to call attention to the cafe's plight, Swanson said. "I'd never met the man on the other end of the phone, but two days later he had a web site written, designed and published on the Internet for us. It's really helped spread the news. In the first 5 days, we received over 20 thousand visitors." Swanson added that they intend to update the site regularly to keep supporters informed of the latest activity.
HaidaBucks was founded in May, 1999, by four members of the Haida Nation. Located in the village of Masset ( on Haida Gwaii, in the Queen Charlotte Islands off of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada) the cafe serves salads, soups, and a variety of sandwiches and subs in addition to it's line of hot and cold beverages.
Contacts: Darin Swanson or Willis Parnell
hbucks@island.net web site
http://www.haidabuckscafe.com
lisa