Copyright Claim Against Starbucks Campaign Dismissed

• Holding: An artist has no copyright infringement claim against Starbucks for using artwork similar to her style of art in its 2015 Frappuccino advertising campaign.
• Takeaway: Overlapping colored rays and shapes are concepts and ideas not protected by copyright law.

Starbucks cannot be subject to a claim of copyright infringement just because its recent Frappuccino advertising campaign used colored rays and shapes similar to the style of Brooklyn mural artist Maya Hayuk, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Jan. 12 (Hayuk v. Starbucks Corp., 2016 BL 7349, S.D.N.Y., 15CV4887-LTS, 1/12/16).

The ...