Even in a small town in Germany or Mumbai, India, you will find a Starbucks Coffee Company (“Starbucks”) on the corner.

Picture of sixteen-year-old teenagers who took photos with the Starbucks logo outside the Horniman Circle Starbucks in south Mumbai. They took an hour long train ride to go to Starbucks.

Starbucks sells a billion dollars of my favorite Frappuccino drink a year throughout the world.

To protect its ability to cash in on this yummy drink, Starbucks owns the FRAPPUCCINO® trademark in the U.S. (and likely in other countries around the world). Not surprisingly when Mexican Company Procesadora Salvic SA de CV applied for the mark “FRIOCCINO” in connection with beverages made of coffee and coffee-based iced beverages, among other beverages, Starbucks opposed the application.

In the opposition, Starbucks touted its forty years of experience in the business. It alleged that there was a likelihood of between the strikingly similar “FRIOCCINO” mark and its valuable FRAPPUCCINO® marks. Starbucks further complained that the opposer’s proposed “FRIOCCINO” mark so resembled Starbucks’ famous FRAPPUCCINO® marks that it was likely to cause dilution of the distinctive quality of its mark.

We will have to wait and see if Starbucks can defeat this application. Do you think Starbucks will prevail?