Your client, Chris Johnson, wants to open up a coffee shop. He doesn't have the money or the marketing skill to really brand his coffee shop and he does not think he will be able to compete with the "big brands" such as Starbucks and Coffee Bean.

Your client initially wants to name his coffee shop Starbucks and use the same logos, naming, and branding as the actual Starbucks. He says, "I figure, they have great brand awareness. Why should I have to reinvent the wheel?" Your client did a little research on his own and learned that calling his coffee shop "Starbucks" probably would not be the best idea because of potential trademark violations.

Your client thinks he has a way to get around it. He's going to call his company "Dumb Starbucks." He did a Google search and from his "research," he found that calling it Dumb Starbucks would be okay because that makes it a parody which, in his words is, "A okay."

Your client comes to your office to confirm that their "research" is correct. Your partner has actually researched issues similar to this before. They hand you their folder full of potential sources and asks you to write them a memo, using only those cases, discussing whether your client's use of the Starbucks trademark is permissible.

For this exercise, your partner's folder only contained the following sources:

15 U.S.C. 45

15 U.S.C. 1051

15 U.S.C. 1114

15 U.S.C. 1115

15 U.S.C. 1125

Restat 3d of Unfair Competition, 21

Restat 3d of Unfair Competition, 2

Restat 3d of Unfair Competition, 23

991 F.Supp.2d 888

141 F.3d 188

523 F.2d 187

778 F.2d 1352

776 F.Supp 1454

Your final deliverable will be a response to client's situation, written in IRAC form, in a well-reasoned and well supported document

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

15 USC 1051 This is the federal statute that governs trademarks including the requirement that a mark be distinctive and not likely to cause confusion ... View the full answer