 Nearly two years ago, Samantha Buck of Astoria, Oregon, bought a small coffee shop and named it Sam Buck's -- after herself. A year later, Starbucks? opened a store inside Fred Meyers, five miles away, and served Samantha with a cease and desist order demanding that she stop using her own name on her store because they claimed it was causing confusion for Starbucks? customers. Samantha refused. [ Read more... ] On August 9, Samantha Buck was served a summons by Starbucks?. She is required to respond within 20 days to Starbuck?'s demand that she change the name of her shop or face legal prosecution. Samantha's Portland lawyers have told her that she needs to produce $5000 to initiate the legal battle. Sam needs assistance, both material and emotional. [ Read more... ] On Friday, August 16, Portlanders stood in solidarity with Samantha Buck and demonstrated outside the Starbucks in Pioneer Courthouse Square: "Samantha Buck, and her family came from Astoria for the Friday morning August 16th protest at Pioneer Square Starbucks. From 7am to 9am, some 15 people handed out flyers, talked to people about the issue, and asked them to sign petitions... This issue is an easy sell. Over 1000 flyers were handed out, and the great majority of the people who took them, both read them, and sympathised with Sam. Many people were outraged by the bullying strongarm tactics of Starbucks as they try to put a small business owner out of business." [ Full story and Photos ] Another post to the open publishing newswire urges people to call and write Starbucks and the Portland lawyers they hired to go after Samantha. This post includes emails, phone numbers, and -- borrowing a technique from animal rights activists -- a "black fax" to send. [ Details ] [ Astoria Coffee War | Sam Buck has been served a summons by Starbucks | Starbucks protest this Friday to support Astoria's Samantha Buck | Tell STARBUCKS and their PORTLAND LAWYERS to leave Samantha Buck alone!! ]
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