Starbucks Corp. said Wednesday it has sought a Japanese court injunction ordering its Japanese rival, Doutor Coffee Co., to stop using a logo in its Excelsior Cafe shops that the U.S. firm says is modeled on its own.
Seattle-based Starbucks, whose shops and coffee products have become a hit in Japan, said it took the legal action with the Tokyo District Court last month.
Doutor has given its Excelsior Cafes a green and black logo, the same colors as the Starbucks logo.
Starbucks said customers have complained of mistaking Doutor's logo for that of Starbucks.
The U.S. firm has been aggressively expanding its network of coffee shops in Japan and other parts of Asia in recent years. The firm aims to boost the number of Starbucks shops in Japan to 500 by 2003. It currently has 130.
A Doutor spokesman in Tokyo rebuffed the allegation.
"We have merely adopted green and black lettering, using the Italian national flag as our model," the spokesman said. Doutor shops serve Italian espresso in addition to other coffee items.
"But we are willing to change the color of the lettering of our logo from green to blue in order to avoid being dragged into a useless battle," the spokesman said.