CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - Starbucks stole the design of a French press coffeemaker and then broke a contract with a business partner by selling them, a recent federal lawsuit alleges.
Bodum USA and Pi-Design AG sued the coffee giant June 25 in Chicago federal court, alleging Starbucks infringed on the patent of Bodum's flagship product - the Chambord French press. Bodum has been selling it since 1983 and acquired its exclusive rights in 1991.
Bodum and Starbucks have been doing business together for decades, leading Starbucks in 2013 to ask Bodum for a custom French press that is opaque and has a locking lid, the lawsuit claims. The product carried the brand names of both Bodum and Starbucks.
Bodum received a patent in 2014 but in 2022 discovered Starbucks was selling the same product without including Bodum, the suit says.
"The Accused Product consiss of an upwardly open, substantially cylindrical vessel with a vessel bottom and a circumferential side wall," the lawsuit says.
"The Accused Product has a filter piston vertically displaceable in the vessel, having a piston rod to whose upper end a grip is attached, and to whose lower end a plunger-filter is attached, which is suitable for allowing the passage of liquid and, at the same time, for retaining solids."
The lawsuit adds that it has a nearly identical locking lid. Bodum approached Starbucks on Feb. 9, 2024, regarding its claim, but the French press continues to be sold, the suit says.
"A finding of willful infringement from at least February 9, 2024, is proper," the suit says.
In addition to a claim for patent infringement, Bodum is suing for breach of contract. The two sides reached a settlement in 2008 regarding the Chambord French press that gave Bodum a right of first refusal for Starbucks French press coffeemakers.
"Only if Bodum declined to supply the product did Starbucks source the product from another vender," the suit says.
A Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement to Legal Newsline: "We are aware of the claims made by Bodum and believe they are without merit, and we are prepared to defend our case in court."
The Chambord French press has been the subject of a handful of other patent lawsuits instituted by Bodum in the past. The company has also been a defendant, as Veken sued (and lost) in 2020 to prevent Bodum for pursuing an infringement claim.
One personal injury claim said the glass beaker intended to hold hot water shattered, sending a woman to urgent care with severe burns on her shin and causing more than $40,000 in medical bills. The plaintiff later dismissed her own claim voluntarily because she felt she had not sued the proper Bodum corporate entity.