IN BRIEF
Judge sides with Starbucks
in name dispute
ASTORIA, Ore. — A federal judge
says the name “Sambuck’s” tacked
above a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop is
too similar to coffee giant Starbucks
and must be changed.
Owner Sam Buck opened the shop
in 2000, naming it after herself.
She said Thursday that she had few
details of a ruling by U.S. District Judge
Ancer Haggerty of Portland. She faces
hundreds of thousands of dollars in
lawyers’ fees.
“The judge said I willfully infringed
on (Starbucks’) trademark, that I
diluted their trademark,” she said.
She was faced with erasing all traces
of the name, from coffee cups to the
sign outside to business cards.
“You’re throwing away thousands
of dollars worth of stuff,” Buck said,
“and you’re left paying thousands
of dollars more to have new
things made.”
She opened the shop in 2000, before
Astoria had a Starbucks, and got a
cease-and-desist letter from the Seattle
based company in March of 2002.
Starbucks, which licenses and
operates more than 8,000 stores
Downhill
Package
nOSSJCNOL
XP1100 Skis
with
noSSIGNOL
Axium 90
3 Bindings
$199
Free Mounting
Free Hot Wax
BgfQV/Hi/hop
13th& Lawrence* Eugene • 683-1300
www.bergsskishop.com
worldwide, offered Buck $500 to
drop the name.
She refused, and Starbucks sued.
She says she doubts people have
trouble distinguishing her 10-foot-wide
shop from a Starbucks, and that her
business logo is not easily confused
with that of Starbucks.
Starbucks has since opened a
store in Astoria a mile east, in a
Safeway building.
Buck said she found out TUesday
night that she had lost.
Starbucks spokeswoman Lara Wyss
said the company is “pleased with the
court’s decision.”
“While it is always Starbucks’ pref
erence and desire to resolve disputes of
this nature informally ... we will seek
the assistance of the courts to protect
our trademark when we are unable to
resolve the matter through alternate
means,” Wyss wrote in an e-mail.
Buck says legal costs will be a
stretch but she doubts she will close.
“It keeps your motivation going,”
she said. “I think it will be OK.”
Community support has given her
added incentive.
“We’re standing up for small busi
ness because corporate America is
squeezing out the small businesses,”
Buck said. “It’s real and it’s going to
happen if we don’t do something. ”
—The Associated Press
MICHAEL BONDANZA
Engagement ring designed
in platinum with a princess cut
center and diamonds on the sides
Oakway Center
345.0354
www.skeies.com
MOHAWK C7eo/,
coin
LAUNDRY
ATTENDANT ON DUTY
1 00 Machines Means No Wait!
Environmentally Friendly / OSHA Approved
All Front Load Washers, some 75 lb.
• Full Laundry
Services
Available
• Children's
Play Area
• Mending and
Alterations
• 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., last load 9 p.m.
988-1640
2152 Marcola Rd. Springfield
§ in Mohawk Shopping Ctr, by
£ Albertson's & Rite Aid
70 W. 29th ave. • Eugene • (54 I) 343-3295
Outgoing WUN chairman
receives award for service
Board members of West
University Neighbors
discuss upcoming meeting
BY CHRIS HAGAN
NEWS REPORTER
Drix Rixmann, a West University
Neighbors board member, received an
honor from the city of Eugene
at the neighborhood association’s
meeting last night for his two years of
service as the organization’s chair.
Neighborhood Services gave Rix
mann a Certificate of Appreciation,
an award for outgoing neighbor
hood association leaders. Steve Nor
ris, neighborhood liaison for the
city, presented Rixmann with the
framed certificate, signed by Eugene
Mayor Kitty Piercy.
“The city really supports volun
teers,” Norris said after the meeting,
“and we like to recognize them.”
The award made the normally
loose-tongued Rixmann speechless.
“I was just overwhelmed,” Rix
mann said. “Just to have all of this
validated is great.”
After the presentation, current
WUN chairman and ASUO Presi
dent Adam Walsh attempted to dis
cuss adding ground rules to stream
line the normally unstructured
WUN meetings.
Walsh suggested adding a speak
er’s queue and a one-minute time
limit on comments, ideas he said he
got from attending a recent Far West
Neighborhood Association meeting.
“It gives the meeting structure
and flow,” Walsh said. “It creates an
environment where everyone feels
they can be heard.”
But community activist Zachary
Vishanoff thought adding
structure to the meetings would
stifle discussion.
“If you have to wait 20 minutes to
respond to someone, it’s hard
to have a back-and-forth,”
Vishanoff said.
When board members continued
to support the idea of a queue,
Vishanoff became agitated and
began shouting.
“Vote me banned,” Vishanoff said.
“It will show what a real conspiracy
this is.”
The WUN members refused to
ban him, reminding him they were
a public group and open to any
neighborhood residents.
“This is a great argument for
structure,” Norris said. “This is
turning into a shouting match
between you and nobody else.”
Vishanoff left the meeting after
the board decided to follow the new
Neighborhood liaison Steve Norris presents a certificate of appreciation from the city of
Eugene to Drix Rixmann at the West University Neighbors meeting.
rules for the night’s meeting.
The board then turned its atten
tion to future meeting agendas.
It laid out the topics and speakers
they would like during the next six
months. Possible meetings
included a city night in March that
would feature the mayor and police
chief and a candidate forum in
April for the open Ward 3 city
council seat.
“The city really supports
volunteers ... And we like
to recognize them. ”
Steve Norris | Neighborhood liason
The WUN is also considering invit
ing local landlords to the February
meeting to discuss housing issues with
neighborhood residents.
WUN secretary Marie Valle said a
housing meeting could help
educate residents about the city’s
new renters code.
“If you’ve just moved here, you
may not know we have this
system,” Valle said.
The group also discussed chang
ing its charter in order to allow it to
meet on days other than first Thurs
day of the month, as is required in
the charter.
“It’s archaic,” Norris said. “We’d
be behind you if you wanted to say
just meet regularly.”
The group needs at least 20 people
to vote officially, and with only four
people present, the group
will discuss the matter further at
later meeting.
With the low turnout, something
Walsh expected because of Dead
Week, the focus turned to how the
group could bring in more people.
A media committee, made up of
Rixmann and board members Ben
Fousek and David Wallace, was cre
ated to organize mailings and
newsletters for the group. The
neighborhood has 3,551 address,
making the media effort difficult for
the small group.
“I know there’s an efficient way
to put a flier on every apartment
complex in the neighborhood,”
Fousek said. “If we can get lots of
people here and have a good, lively
meeting, we’ll be more successful.”
Walsh agreed but suggested the
group use mailings instead of flyers.
“One thing about being able to
mail it is that everyone gets it,”
Walsh said-. “We always get a bigger
turnout for a mailing.”
Fousek is also spearheading the
creation of a WUN Web site to
increase awareness of the group.
“If we just put a lot of data in one
place, 95 percent of the people in
this neighborhood have access to
the Internet,” Fousek said.
The WUN’s next meeting will be
Jan. 12, where members plan to dis
cuss a possible neighborhood watch
program and further discuss
changes to the group’s charter.
Contact the city, state politics reporter
at chagan@dailyemerald.com
men’s and women’s fas
resale]
local designers
unique jewelry
Roses $9^ doz
cash 8? carry
i Rfuftfimtkfyloom
www.eugenefavoriteflorist.com 24th & Hilyard 485-4659
rannmranfiBrafliiiinBrarciiairinnrii
aaaa amaiia □□
Find fun stuff in the ODE Classifieds: Comics, your daily horoscope, and. of course, the crossword.