Suit Against Starbucks Dismissed

Starbucks Corp. won dismissal Tuesday of a trademark suit filed by rival Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf over the use of the name “ice blended” to market specialty coffee beverages.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real, at a hearing in Los Angeles, granted Starbucks’ bid to dismiss the suit ahead of trial. Coffee Bean sued last year, claiming it trademarked “ice blended” in 1995 and that Starbucks’ use of the phrase “Frappuccino Ice Blended Beverage” infringed Coffee Bean’s rights.

Seattle-based Starbucks has been adding specialty drinks such as Iced Shaken Refreshments, helping same-store sales rise 11% in November. The company argued that the phrase “ice blended” was generic, citing about 260 uses of the phrase by other coffee shops or in newspaper articles.

Coffee Bean, founded in 1963, describes itself as the oldest and largest privately owned chain of coffee stores in the world. A call to the company’s Los Angeles operating company, International Coffee & Tea, wasn’t immediately returned.

Starbucks shares rose 48 cents to $32 on Nasdaq.