I am infringing Starbucks copyright or trademark

[jdonisthorpe]

New Mexico

I have a website that offers Starbucks Recipes ebook on CD.
These are all copycat recipes that I have collected over the years.
I started selling the CD on ebay and today I got a message from
VERO that Starbucks wanted my auctions shut down. Here is the explaination:

We would like to let you know that we removed your listing:


2350508518 Starbucks / Coffee Recipes CD and Download



because a Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program participant notified us,
under penalty of perjury, that your listing or the item itself
infringes their copyright, trademark, or other rights.

We have credited any associated fees to your account. We have also
notified the bidders that the listing(s) was removed, and that they are
not obligated to complete the transaction.

If you relist this or any other similar items on eBay, your account
likely will be suspended.

If you believe your listing was ended in error, or have questions
regarding the removal of this listing, please contact the VeRO Program
participant directly at:

Starbucks Coffee Company
[email protected]
____________________________________________

I don't see how I am doing anything different than any copycat recipes site, including Todd Wilber's topsecretrecipes dot com.

As far as confusion, I don't believe I am convincing anyone that I am affiliated with Starbucks in any way.

1. Am I infringing?
2. If not, what can I do?

Please see my profile for my website.
Thanks!
Jennifer

 

[divgradcurl]

"As far as confusion, I don't believe I am convincing anyone that I am affiliated with Starbucks in any way."

I think a court would disagree. You have the term "Starbucks" in the title, which appears to imply that you are selling a "Starbucks Coffee Recipe CD and Download. You don't have to "convince" anyone that you are affiliated with Starbucks; it is sufficient that people are "confused" about whether or not your product is endorsed or affiliated with Starbucks. The way you have used Starbuck's name in your product title would certainly appear to be confusing, at least from a trademark sense.

"I don't see how I am doing anything different than any copycat recipes site, including Todd Wilber's topsecretrecipes dot com."

Well, for one thing, Todd isn't using any of the trademarked names on the front page of his website, and he has a disclaimer on his front page. You, on the other hand, have used a trademarked name in your title -- the first word of your title, in fact -- to sell your product.

Second, it doesn't matter what Todd is doing or isn't doing -- what YOU are doing is what is going to get YOU in trouble. Remember, nobody has ever gotten out of a speeding ticket by saying "but someone else was going faster..."

"1. Am I infringing?
2. If not, what can I do?"

1. Almost certainly.
2. Remove the name "Starbucks" from the title AND from the product description. Sell your product as "recipes inspired by that famous coffee house from Seattle" or something.

While there ARE ways to use the term "Starbucks" in your add which would not legally be infringement of Starbuck's trademark, eBay will still yank the ad if Starbuck's asks them too. If they don't yank an ad, and Starbucks sues and proves infringement, eBay could be on the hook for contributing to trademark infringement -- they don't want that, so it is in their best interest to just yank the ads.

By the way -- if I were a trademark holder, I would go after Todd Wilber's website too. He has several trademarks appearing in his metatags -- those hidden fields in a webpage that search engines use to index the pages -- and that would definitely be trademark infringement...