I guess they have a problem with the word 'bucks' in our name. They're letting us use the word Haida -- nice of them. -- Darin Swanson

We've been using the term "bucks" in our Nation for far longer than Starbucks has. I played on a Massett basketball team with that name. We use the term 'bucks' to refer to young men. They're not just telling us to change our name, they're telling us to give up our pride in ourselves and our heritage. -- Darin Swanson

That was nice of them to let us use the word Haida. Bucks refers to young men in the culture of First Nations. We're Haida bucks. Originally there were four Haida guys that owned the place, so we decided to call ourselves HaidaBucks. It has nothing to do with Starbucks. -- Darin Swanson

I don't want to bow down to these guys. The word 'bucks' is theirs? They own that word? I don't think so, but that's basically what they're saying. -- Darin Swanson

For some reason, the corporate lawyers at Starbucks® can't tell the difference between their company's name and ours. And they seem to feel that the public is too stupid to be able to differentiate between our store and theirs. Personally, we think you are all smarter than that, and won't have any trouble telling the difference. -- HaidaBucks

Remember McDonald's v McChina (BVEJ #0020 January 2002) where McVomit tried to crush the little guy, only the little guy fought back and won.

McDonald's seem to think they have a monopoly on 'Mc', and will bully out of business anyone who dares to use 'Mc'. In the case of Frank Yuen, the proprietor of McChina, the gripe from McDonald's was that there would be some confusion in the minds of customers. Now we appreciate you may have to be a bit stupid to eat in McDonald's, but apart from the obvious difference that McChina was serving food, McChina, as the name may suggest, was serving Chinese food, whereas McDonald's serves salt-laden saturated fat masquerading as meat.

It is not only McDonald's' that try it on with these bully boy tactics, Starbucks are trying the same, bullying anyone who uses the name 'Bucks'.

The latest to be at the end of the Starbucks jackboot is the HaidaBucks cafe in the Queen Charlotte Islands (British Columbia, Canada).

Darin Swanson and his partners -- all members of the Haida Nation -- set up their HaidaBucks cafe three years ago. They are refusing to be ground down by Starbucks, and insist they have aboriginal rights to the name

HaidaBucks was founded in May 1999, by three members of the Haida Nation and one non-Haida with a Haida family. Located in the village of Masset (on Haida Gwaii in the Queen Charlotte Islands off the North coast of British Columbia), the cafe serves salads, soups, and a variety of sandwiches and subs in addition to its line of hot and cold beverages.

HaidaBucks far from imitating Starbucks, with identical shops with identical clones serving appalling coffee, resembles a native loghouse with real food served by native American Indians.

But see if you can spot the difference, as it appears Starbucks' fat-cat over paid lawyers can't.

HaidaBucks

A small cafe located in NW Canada - on an island, in a village of 700 inhabitants, value - $10,000-20,000(Cdn)
Owned and operated by four Haida Gwaii young men
Building resembles a traditional Haida Gwaii longhouse
Serves a full menu of tasty food and beverages at reasonable prices
Supports community by offering jobs for others, while the owners must work elsewhere to provide for themselves
Supports indigenous community by being indigenous and providing employment for other indigenous people
Cannot afford legal representation to fight off corporate thugs trying to take their good name

Starbucks

Publicly traded, global conglomerate with locations in metropolitan areas, value - $10 BILLION+!
Run by a team of high-paid executives
Shops conform to corporate design featuring green and black colour scheme
Serves over priced coffee, tea, and pastries
Claims to support communities while crushing local competitors with strong-arm tactics
Claims to support indigenous peoples while harassing a small indigenous-owned cafe for daring to use the word bucks
Can afford millions for useless lawsuits to harass local businesses
If you cannot tell the difference you clearly have a future as a $tarfucks lawyer.

HaidaBucks are not the only cafe to be ground by the Starbucks jackboots. August 2002, Samantha Buck of Astoria, Oregon was also sued by Starbucks for having her shop be known in town as Sam's Bucks.

October 2000, Samantha Buck of Astoria, Oregon bought a small coffee shop in downtown Astoria and named it Sam Buck's - after herself. One year later, Starbucks Coffee opened a Starbucks store inside Fred Meyers, five miles away. Starbucks lawyers then served Samantha Buck with a cease and desist order: she must stop using her own name on her store, because they claimed it was causing confusion for Starbucks customers who might be led to believe they were patronizing a Starbucks' store when in fact, they were going into Sam Bucks. They offered her $500 for the expense of removing her name from her store.

Sam said no thank you, and soon thereafter, Starbucks filed a lawsuit. She must rename her store or an injunction will be filed, and assuming a properly corporate-friendly judge, will likely be issued and enforced. If Sam Buck continues to use her name on her store, she can be found in contempt of court, and can be jailed.

Samantha Buck has received a great deal of local support and publicity in the local paper - in addition to stories in Portland and Seattle papers and Seattle IndyMedia. Patrons from Portland and Seattle make a point of stopping in to offer their help.

In addition, A&D Cafe of Brooklyn, NY, which sells coffee called Warbucks and the the Black Bear Micro Roastery in New Hampshire, which has a blend of coffee called Mr Charbucks, have been ground by the Starbucks jackboots.

Starbucks seem to think they own the name Starbucks, and yet they plagiarized the name from Herman Melville's Moby Dick without attribution.

If, as Starbucks would probably claim, they are simply protecting their copyright, why are they not walking all over Sears and Roebuck's?

Ocean Beach fought, an unsuccessful battle to stop a Starbucks coming into town. It is boycotted by most of the folk in town. Ocean Beach have now modified their planning policies which prevents further $tarbucks/McVomit fast food type outlets moving into town.

It is not only local coffee shops that are suffering, coffee growers are suffering too. [BVEJ newsletter #0035 April 2003]

Let Starbucks know what you think:


Starbucks Customer Relations
PO Box 3717
Seattle, WA 98124-3717

800-235-2883

 http://www.starbucks.com/customer/contact_forms.asp

Boycott Starbucks!


 http://www.haidabuckscafe.com
 http://home.attbi.com/~mobyd/Sambucks/SamBucks.htm
 http://portland.indymedia.org
 http://www.obgo.org
 http://www.ihatestarbucks.com
 http://www.starbucked.com

Starbucks sues tiny indigenous-owned coffeeshop for 'trademark infringement', UK Indymedia, 12 May 2003

Keith Parkins, McChina v McDonald's, UK Indymedia, 4 December 2001

Scott Simpson, Starbucks demands HaidaBucks change, Vancouver Sun, 16 April 2003

Astoria Coffee War, Indymedia Portland, 1 August 2002

Jake Batsell, Starbucks' attempts to protect trademark could grow tougher, Seattle Times, 14 March 2003

Naomi Klein, No Logo, Flamingo, 2000