Better not use a green circle for your coffee shop logo because Starbucks has lawyers and they’ll sue ya. Conga Coffee & Tea, a small two-store operation in Michigan, is being threatened with a lawsuit because their logo bears “striking resemblance” to Starbucks’ famous mermaid logo. At least that’s what Starbucks says.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Starbucks claims that the Conga logo is “likely to cause consumers to think that Conga is an authorized licensee of Starbucks.”

Conga’s customers aren’t confused.

“It says ‘Conga’ right there on the sign,” Denise Reedy, 41, said as she sipped a German chocolate latte at the Mt. Clemens shop Thursday. “There’s not much chance I’m going to get confused.”

The owner says he isn’t trying to copy Starbucks, and that the logo has always been the same:

Dregiewicz said Starbucks’ worries that he is trying to emulate the chain are ironic.”Our customers hate their coffee,” said Dregiewicz, 51, who has owned the 11-year-old Mt. Clemens Conga since February. “My sign is round and green and always has been. It’s not even the same shade of green as theirs.”

So far, 250 customers have signed a petition in Dregiewicz’s shop in hope that it will convince Starbucks that Macomb County residents know the difference between the coffeehouses.

If it really took Starbucks 11 years to notice the resemblance, how striking can it be?

Shop’s logo bull’s-eye for Starbucks lawyers [Detroit Free Press via Starbucks Gossip]

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