Legal•Info

Starbucks Being Sued For Breach Of Contract

Posted: Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Coffeehouse giant Starbucks is being sued by communications giant T-Mobile, which has accused the coffeehouse chain of breaching a contract that was in place. T-Mobile has accused Starbucks of colluding with another provider, AT&T over the provision of WiFi in its coffee shops.

T-Mobile claims that Starbucks had an exclusive agreement in place. The lawsuit was filed late last week in New York state court. According to T-Mobile the three companies had already come to an agreement with regards to Starbucks transferring from its T-Mobile partnership to one with AT&T, and claims that this agreement was not adhered to.

The lawsuit goes on to state that T-Mobile was given permission to “sell, market and promote its services” in Starbucks coffee shops until they were all set up and ready for the AT&T transfer. The lawsuit stated: “T-Mobile had made a very significant investment in the technology and equipment necessary to provide Wi-Fi service in the many thousands of Starbucks stores in the United States.”

An official from Starbucks said: “Our goal is to ensure Wi-Fi access at all Starbucks locations. This is a benefit offered to our Starbucks Card Rewards members as well as AT&T subscribers and steps are being taken to ensure that this access continues.”

 

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