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Representatives of a former Los Angeles company called Balmuccino are suing Starbucks for a third time, claiming that the coffee giant stole confidential product development details for coffee-themed lip balms.
Previous versions of the suit have been dismissed on procedural grounds, yet the Balmuccino lawyers continue to claim Starbucks poached private product details prior launching “The S’mores Frappuccino Sip Kit,” a line of Frappucino-themed lip balms, in 2019.
Incidentally, the 2019 Starbucks launch came just a week after Dunkin’ launched a lip balms designed to look and smell like its donut hole products, Munchkins.
The Balmuccino lawsuit, filed last week in a U.S. District Court (New York Southern District), repeats past claims regarding a 2017 meeting between the Balmuccino heads and former Starbucks executive in charge of product development.
The suit says the meeting was arranged by longtime former Starbucks CEO and President Howard Schultz and television personality and former Pennsylvania senate candidate Mehmet Öz, a.k.a. “Dr. Oz.” One of Balmuccino’s managing members was Oz’s sister-in-law, according to the complaint.
The suit claims that the Starbucks representative “refused to enter into a Non-Disclosure Agreement, essentially promising that Starbucks could be trusted because Starbuck’s CEO had facilitated the meeting.”
The complaint notes that the Starbucks executive from the meeting left the company shortly thereafter.
“Then, in 2018, Balmuccino learned that Starbucks Research and Development personnel had contacted one of Balmuccino’s suppliers to create prototypes for Starbucks-branded lip balm-type products and lip balm cases, using specifications the potential manufacturer had received that matched those which Plaintiff had provided to Mr. Gelman during the Meeting,” the complaint states.
Starbucks has repeatedly stated that the claims in the previous Balmuccino lawsuits were without merit. “We look forward to presenting our case in court,” the company told DCN prior to the previous lawsuit being dismissed.
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