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SEPTEMBER, 2004
Coffee v. Beer
New York Lawyer
August 18, 2004

By The Staff of Texas Lawyer

The trademark dispute between Starbucks Coffee Co. and a Galvestonbar owner is still brewing. Mediator Ronald L. White, a shareholder in Houston's White Mackillop& Baham, notified U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of Galveston in an Aug. 3 letter that amediation in Rex Wayne Bell v. Starbucks U.S. Brands Corp, et al. did not settle the matter. "We continue forward selling Starbock Beer," says John Egbert,Bell's attorney. Kent set a June 6, 2005, trial date in the suit, which stems fromStarbucks' opposition to Bell's attempt to register the name of his beer as a trademark. According tothe U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online trademark registration report, Bell filed to registerStarbock beer as a trademark in March 2003. Starbucks objected to Bell's proposed trademark after thePatent and Trademark Office published the mark for opposition on Jan. 20. Egbert, owner of Harrison & Egbert in Houston, says Bell usesthe name Starbock on one brand of beer that is specially brewed and sold only at Bell's Old QuarterAcoustic Cafe in Galveston. On March 17, Bell filed a suit for declaratory judgment in the U.S.District Court for the Southern District in Galveston. In his complaint, Bell asks the court to find that histrademark, Starbock Beer, as used in connection with alcoholic beverages, is not confusingly similar to orin conflict with Starbucks' trademark. Starbucks, which declines a request to interview its attorneys atFulbright & Jaworski, argues in its answer to Bell's complaint that it's entitled to an order that enjoins Bellfrom using the Starbock Beer trademark. In a written statement, Starbucks spokesperson Lara Wyss saystrademark law requires companies to take action against infringing uses of their trademarks. "Even where it may seem playful, this type of misappropriation of acompany's name (and reputation) is both derivative and dilutive of their trademark rights," Wyss says inthe statement. Egbert says he believes the case will be a test of the issue oftrademark dilution. Link to: Thestory and more from Texas Lawyer's "Inadmissible" column


JULY, 2004
LAWSUIT UPDATE

I applied for the trademark "Starbock Beer" on March 1, 2003.
Letters and phone calls from Starbucks Coffee Corp. started arriving
around  May and June 2003.  My Trademark was approved by
the United States Patent and Trademark Office and published for
opposition on January 20, 2004.  Starbucks Coffee had 30 days
to file an opposition, they did so on February 18th.  My attorney
and I filled a petition of declaration of our right  to the name
"Starbock Beer" in the federal courts in Galveston Tx. in March
2003.  Starbucks Coffee immediately sued me for "infringement
of their trademark" and "Dilution of their mark", claming Starbock Beer
would cause confusion in the marketplace.  They stated in their papers,
and I quote "Unless restrained, the forgoing wrongful acts of Bell will
continue to cause irreparable injury to Starbucks Coffee, both during the
pendency of this action and there after."  End quote.
I think that's a little over stated!!!

The trial is set for the first week of June 2005.  I know the amount
of press will not affect the outcome of this trial but the press will be there.
I have ABC, NBC, CBS & FOX  TV waiting to do follow up stories.
The Galveston Daily News, The Houston Chronicle, The Houston
Press and Greg Barr, the most prolific free lance writer in Texas, are
also going to do stories.  If Greg is involved, it will get print, and lot's
of it.  Starbock Beer is already a nationally known name, and after this
trial, it will be a household word.  I hope I will own it.  Thanks for
your support.
     To order Starbock Beer, advertise, or invest in my new company:

Rex Bell
413 20th St.
Galveston, Tx.
77550
wrecks@wt.net
409 762 9199
http://www.starbockbeer.com/


WE'RE ON TV!
Thursday night July 1st, Premiere Media Group came to the Acoustic Cafe and filmed a hilarious spoof about people who can't tell the difference between beer and coffee. It will be shown on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in the coming weeks


I


.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE May 14, 2004,

Star Wars: Bock v. 'bucks

By RICK CASEY

Star Wars is heating up!

Not the Strategic Defense Initiative, although its first installation is scheduled for operation in Alaska this summer. Not the final episode of Yoda and the gang. That's due on the screens a year from now. No, I'm referring to the titanic battle between Starbucks and Star Bock, first discussed in this space last November. ...read entire article

This page accessed   times.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Nov. 13, 2003.

Starbucks suit is a lot of bock

By RICK CASEY

GALVESTON BAR OWNER Rex "Wrecks" Bell has come up with a new beer: Star Bock.

"It started as a joke," says Bell.

But Starbucks isn't laughing.They're having their lawyer send letters demanding that Bell abandon his trademark registration efforts and "immediately (their emphasis) cease any and all use of the Starbock Beer and/or Starbock mark" and that he "destroy any signage, menus or other materials bearing the Starbock Beer and/or Starbock."...read entire article

HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, May 7, 2004

Starbock vs. Starbucks: A legal brewhaha

Isle bar owner feels the heat as coffee giant prepares to enter alcoholic beverage market

by Greg Barr Special to Houston Business Journal

A feisty Galveston nightclub owner has taken legal action of his own against Starbucks Corp., hoping to take the steam out of the coffee conglomerate's bid to force him to drop the name of his homespun beer.

Rex "Wrecks" Bell, a musician who has operated the Old Quarter Acoustic Café nightclub just off Galveston's Postoffice Street since 1996, has been under Starbucks' legal radar since last June when he began selling his own brand of beer, Starbock, to island patrons....read entire article



Beer Brawl
Starbucks tries to step on the start-up of Starbock beer

BY GREG BARR


HOUSTON PRESS, October 2, 2003


For a guy who hasn't touched alcohol for the past five years, Rex Bell has had beer on his mind for a while. Specifically, the downtown Galveston bar owner has been thinking about a new brand of beer that he hopes to launch later this month at his eclectic Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe.
   Bell, a witty, irascible musician who played bass guitar behind iconoclastic troubadour Townes Van Zandt and Third Ward bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, struck a deal with... read entire article


Summary judgment denied in STAR BOCK lawsuit

By Greg Barr
Correspondent

Published January 27, 2005
Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — A federal judge has denied a request by Starbucks Corp. to issue a ruling in its legal battle against a local bar owner, putting the case on track for a June 6 trial.

U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Kent issued his decision over the weekend and filed his response with the court Monday, denying all of the requests by the global coffee corporation.

Starbucks delivered a massive, 7-pound volume of legal paperwork to the judge on Dec. 23, citing myriad examples from other well-known trademark cases, and asking him to declare a partial summary judgment or summary adjudication.

The case pits the Seattle-based company against Rex Bell, owner of the Old Quarter Acoustic Café. Bell sells Star Bock Beer from a draught keg at his Galveston bar, a product that Starbucks claims infringes on its well-known worldwide brand.

Bell received approval from the federal trademark office for his beer, but Starbucks opposed the ruling, saying it had subsequently filed its own trademark request regarding its plan to sell coffee-flavored liqueur. Bell’s lawyer countered that move in November 2004 by formally opposing Starbucks’ own distilled spirits trademark.

Kent’s ruling puts the onus on Starbucks to clearly prove in court that Bell’s beer infringes on their trademark.

“Defendants (Starbucks) have not produced evidence of actual economic harm,” Kent wrote in his decision. “The issues of trademark dilution and trademark infringement present nuances of fact best left for trial. Because genuine issues of material fact remain as to each claim, summary judgment is not appropriate.”

John Egbert, Bell’s Houston-based attorney, says the ruling was a victory for his client in the case.

“At every turn, the judge denied their motion,” he said Tuesday. “Now they have to come to the table with proof of actual confusion or likelihood of dilution (of their trademark). The burden of proof is still on them.”

For his part, Bell was ecstatic with the ruling. “I really think I can win this thing,” he said.

Starbucks spokeswoman Valerie Hwang acknowledged the ruling when contacted Tuesday but would not comment further. “Starbucks has no details to provide regarding this pending litigation,” she said. “The company’s position is set forth in the papers on file with the court.”

Submit your STAR BOCK BEER press links and stories here
LINKS TO MEDIA COVERAGE

I'm not trying to attack
big business. I'm just a
small-time bar owner
trying to make a BOCK..
...Wrecks Bell

Coming soon ...

You make the call

UPDATE JANUARY 28,2005

STARBUCKS Coffee

versus

The case is now in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. To read the appeal brief please go to:
http://www.oldquarteracoustciccafe.com
and click on Read Appeal Brief

STAR BOCK BEER
STAR AMBER