Bangkok: Starbucks demands arrests in IP case

[Baloo22]

I find big American corporations to be heavy-handed, asinine, and insular. One feed supplier in the US, a farm feed supplier, who had been McDonald's Feed since 1912 had to change their name from the restaraunt chain doing exactly the same thing that Starphucks is trying to do. The problem, hard to see from here, is this: A large company files court brief after court brief, demanding a defendent's response, until the little guy goes bankrupt paying his lawyer.

That's the harsh and stupid reality of civil cases filed in the US. It is an engineered system where companies can literally steamroll anyone they like. Now they try to impose their one-sided approach to destroying small businesses here... I hope the Thais use every aspect of Thainess...the case takes years to evaluate...evidence gets lost...witnesses can't be found....and no one pays squat but the foriegn invader.

Here is a great chance for the legal system we all criticize to protect their own, and help keep corporate America from getting a foothold in their financial space. The American conceptualization of legal justice is pathetically insane, and I hope the nations reject all this nonsense. This situation does not hurt or cost Starphucks a single cent in revenue. And the legal argument..this is Our Intellectul Property is equally stupid...because in any context where such property has no value equates to a non-sequitor of immense and valueless proportions.

This is why Shakespeare said "the law is an arse".

You say " One feed supplier in the US, a farm feed supplier, who had been McDonald's Feed since 1912 had to change their name from the restaurant chain doing exactly the same thing that Starphucks is trying to do. "

Do you happen to have any evidence to back up that accusation? Can you cite a court case? Provide a link to a news source?

[rametindallas]

If Starbucks, the corporation has such a bad reputation, and Starbucks coffee is vile and equal to pill, they WHY are there so many who want to copy them, including Mr. Bung?

Before Starbucks became big, stand-alone coffee shops were few and far between. Yes, there were some good shops, but they were the exception. If you wanted a cup of coffee, you went to a restaurant or café; that served made to order meals as well as coffee and you wouldn't know the quality if you hadn't been there before. Starbucks started a fad of going to a shop devoted to coffee and cakes and predictable quality (I don't care for it but I am a coffee snob and make my own). Now even McDonald's serves World class coffee. None of the jobs that sprang from this fad would be here if not for Starbucks. Have you not noticed the proliferation of stand-alone coffee shops sprouting up all over Thailand?

How does Starbucks treat its employees? http://www.brandautopsy.com/2007/01/the_starbucks_e.html, http://www.indeed.com/cmp/Starbucks/reviews, http://meetingsnet.com/corporatemeetingsincentives/meetings_treat_employees_partners/ You won't find links to bad reviews on employee treatment.

[JSixpack]

Quote

"Made it a point to stop by Starbucks in Pattaya today and had a cuppa. Business is great!"

Then followed by lunch at McDonalds, afternoon tea at Burger King and dinner at KFC. Well bud, thank god these MNC's have the likes of people like you frequenting their businesses and not the cheap charlie, anti-globalist blah blah blah you claim the rest of us are.

I'm flattered that such a high and mighty representative of the mob as yourself is so concerned about my movements, so long as you aren't hanging about any public restroom I might happen to visit. Those movements are strictly private, thank you. By contrast, I haven't the slightest interest in you: do as you like.

Quote for the day:

Mobs ‘stand in need of ready-made opinions on all subjects,” Le Bon says, and the ‘popularity of these opinions is independent of the measure of truth or error they contain.” The power of prestige “entirely paralyses our critical faculty, and fills our souls with astonishment and respect.” The weak-minded just go with the crowd, ridicule the designated scapegoats, and then pass out awards to one another for their courage.

--Ann Coulter, Demonic, p. 263

Edited October 27, 2013 by JSixpack

[hawker9000]

I find big American corporations to be heavy-handed, asinine, and insular. One feed supplier in the US, a farm feed supplier, who had been McDonald's Feed since 1912 had to change their name from the restaraunt chain doing exactly the same thing that Starphucks is trying to do. The problem, hard to see from here, is this: A large company files court brief after court brief, demanding a defendent's response, until the little guy goes bankrupt paying his lawyer.

That's the harsh and stupid reality of civil cases filed in the US. It is an engineered system where companies can literally steamroll anyone they like. Now they try to impose their one-sided approach to destroying small businesses here... I hope the Thais use every aspect of Thainess...the case takes years to evaluate...evidence gets lost...witnesses can't be found....and no one pays squat but the foriegn invader.

Here is a great chance for the legal system we all criticize to protect their own, and help keep corporate America from getting a foothold in their financial space. The American conceptualization of legal justice is pathetically insane, and I hope the nations reject all this nonsense. This situation does not hurt or cost Starphucks a single cent in revenue. And the legal argument..this is Our Intellectul Property is equally stupid...because in any context where such property has no value equates to a non-sequitor of immense and valueless proportions.

This is why Shakespeare said "the law is an arse".

Another urban myth mindlessly repeated over & over & over again by the corpophobics, who ignore the deep-pockets, class-action target-chasing trial lawyers. Shakespeare ALSO had something to say about THEM.

[mochafan]

The only ones, that should be arrested here, are the bosses of Starbucks for overcharging the brown liquid, they call coffee!!

Overcharging is when you agree to a price beforehand and then charge a higher price later.

What Starbucks does is called selling coffee.

....and overcharging. Your definition of overcharging is not the only definition...there are others. One is ..'to charge too high a price for goods or services. Which many people agree that's what Starbucks does. And some people choose to pay for the overpriced product (because they have the money to do it), and some people choose not to for other reasons.

How about profiteering?

[rametindallas]

The only ones, that should be arrested here, are the bosses of Starbucks for overcharging the brown liquid, they call coffee!!

Overcharging is when you agree to a price beforehand and then charge a higher price later.

What Starbucks does is called selling coffee.

....and overcharging. Your definition of overcharging is not the only definition...there are others. One is ..'to charge too high a price for goods or services. Which many people agree that's what Starbucks does. And some people choose to pay for the overpriced product (because they have the money to do it), and some people choose not to for other reasons.

How about profiteering?

Profiteering or profits. to some socialist types there is no difference. https://eresearch.fidelity.com/eresearch/evaluate/fundamentals/dividends.jhtml?symbols=SBUX

Starbucks costs, today, $79.96 per share and the dividend, this year and paid quarterly, is 21 cents. That's 84 cents per share per year to the investors (owners) or about 1%. Hardly ripping anyone off. So what is Starbucks doing with all those outrageous profits that they're not paying any taxes on (some posters' description)? Starbucks is: creating new jobs for construction of their new stores, hiring employees to operate the new stores, creating more business for coffee farmers, transport, suppliers, etc. All those companies and employees that make the expansion happen will pay taxes into the system where there were not taxes before Starbucks' initiative.

If, according to your definition, Starbucks is charging too high a price, how is it that their business is expanding? Just because YOU find them too expensive doesn't mean they are overcharging. I guess Mercedes Benz and everyone else who makes a product or supplies a service that YOU can't afford is overcharging. You socialists are hilarious. You want to take away from those who have and give it to those who don't (regardless if they deserve it) and on the other hand, you don't want those who have it to have it. Who will socialist steal from when they have made everyone poor? Where will people find employment if entrepreneurship is discouraged? I'm sorry for the World that people have such defective reasoning power to not understand how the World functions but, instead, live in a Utopia inside their heads. I hope we survive Socialism; it is a cancer on Humanity.

If Mr. Bung is allowed to destroy Starbuck's ownership of their trademark, anyone can then use Starbucks' trademarked logos, etc. including CP and other large competitors and there goes Starbucks and all their job creation and you have not hurt the 'corporations' you have just enabled another corporation.

[hawker9000]

Socialism just means free stuff for those that don't work for it. Food, housing, clothing, trademarks..., you name it. But what history shows it ending up as is either national bankruptcy or forced labor. Unfortunately, that's what it takes a good many an entire (short and dependent) lifetime to learn, as the fact that we're even having this discussion shows.

Starbucks, "overcharging" for their coffee?? 555555555555555555! So miliions of people, around the gobe, with other coffee-consumption choices too numerous to mention (as the Starbucks haters & boycotters keep reminding us!), line up in standing-room-only shops, just to buy the overpriced product...............uh.....why?! Obviously yet another marketing genius who slept through his economics classes, and apparently has never tried to sell anything. C'mon, admit it, this just a case of profit envy. Somebody else making more money for their idea, their innovation, their risk-taking, their hard work, and their success, than you do for your, em, er...........skills. BTW - I'm not even a coffee-drinker, and I have to admire an outfit like Starbucks. If you'd have asked me back when they were just starting up, I'd have scoffed at the idea. They had an obviously outstanding idea for a business I never would have even considered. What they're selling people are lining up to buy, and that's just all there is to it.

[harrry]

There's only one course of appropriate action: Starbucks boycott! In fact, Starbucks protest! Stop the bullies. Who's in?

I just love that chirping sound crickets make...

(I wonder how many thousands of cups of coffee Starbucks sold while I was typing that.)

((Oops, there go another few thousand.))

I never drink coffee, but just as my personal form of protest for all the David & Goliath nonsense being posted here, I think I'll run out & get one of their frappacinos or something.

Just last night I was walking by a Starbucks store here in Chiang Mai. Didn't intend to go in there. But when I walked by and saw the store, I went in and ordered a nice large ice tea as my own deliberate response to all the Starbucks-hating chirpers here! It did make it taste just that much better!

I guess something can make it taste better ...On its own it in not memorable.

[hawker9000]

There's only one course of appropriate action: Starbucks boycott! In fact, Starbucks protest! Stop the bullies. Who's in?

I just love that chirping sound crickets make...

(I wonder how many thousands of cups of coffee Starbucks sold while I was typing that.)

((Oops, there go another few thousand.))

I never drink coffee, but just as my personal form of protest for all the David & Goliath nonsense being posted here, I think I'll run out & get one of their frappacinos or something.

Just last night I was walking by a Starbucks store here in Chiang Mai. Didn't intend to go in there. But when I walked by and saw the store, I went in and ordered a nice large ice tea as my own deliberate response to all the Starbucks-hating chirpers here! It did make it taste just that much better!

I guess something can make it taste better ...On its own it in not memorable.

Last I checked, Starbucks wasn't selling "memories". Lol - we're talking about a cup of coffee or tea here, not a Beethoven symphony. And what they're selling, millions are forking over their hard-earned to buy.

BTW, how's that "boycott" coming? What's it up to now? Six? Seven including you? 5555555. I hear Starbucks might have to revise its next year sales forecast.........upwards. :-)

[JSixpack]

....and overcharging. Your definition of overcharging is not the only definition...there are others. One is ..'to charge too high a price for goods or services. Which many people agree that's what Starbucks does. And some people choose to pay for the overpriced product (because they have the money to do it), and some people choose not to for other reasons.

How about profiteering?

Best thing for you little Che Guevaras whom, to your greater impoverishment, the nanny state has purposely left ignorant of economics is to start easy here:

http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232

With stories on tariffs, minimum wage, rent controls, taxes. unions, wages, profits, savings, credit, unemployment, and so much more, Hazlitt takes some of the most difficult economic concepts and makes these easily accessible to the lay person who has no economic training, background, or even inclination.

--reviewer

It's such an indignity (needless in this case) to be ignorant of fundamentals. You know how you feel around Thais who just don't have a clue about how things work.