The Starbucks logo. Photo: Reuters / Lucy Nicholson.

Starbucks, the multinational coffeehouse chain, has filed a federal lawsuit in the US alleging trademark infringement against labor unions representing its employees, arguing the groups appropriated the Starbucks logo while making anti-Israel social media posts that have prompted complaints and harmed its brand.

“This is an action concerning the actual and threatened injury to the safety, well-being, operations, and reputation of Starbucks and its employees caused by the defendants’ inflammatory and misleading communications, which have led, among other things, to property damage, threats, and calls for a boycott against Starbucks,” said the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Iowa and shared by the Courthouse News Service.

“Most notably, and of most urgency to Starbucks, this action concerns defendants’ social media posts in support of violence in Israel starting immediately after reports emerged that Hamas had attacked civilians in Israel,” it continued.

The complaint — which also accuses the unions of using  “the Starbucks name and other identifying symbols to identify themselves” and raise money — was filed against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Workers United (WU), Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), and Iowa City Starbucks Workers United. Lawyers for Starbucks argued that the SEIU “controls” WU and SBWU.

Starbucks’ complaint shows examples of the alleged trademark infringement, including side by side comparisons of its logo and those used by the unions.

The complaint filed by Starbucks includes side-by-side comparisons of logos used by the unions and trademarked Starbucks Corporation logos.

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group in control of the Gaza Strip, invaded Israel on Oct. 7 and slaughtered over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands of others, and took about 200 hostages.

Following the terror onslaught, Starbucks accused the Iowa City Starbucks Workers Union of posting and sharing messages “advocating for the continuation of violence against Israel and cessation of US aid to Israel.” Among the messages included a tweet that said “Palestine will be free” and another that read, “pressure your electeds [sic] to end military aid to Israel, and engage in BDS [boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel] through your union contracts.” According to Starbucks’ complaint, the union used images in its posts that closely resemble the company’s logo.

Meanwhile, SBWU posted what appeared to be a pro-Hamas tweet reading “Solidarity with Palestine!” with imagery resembling the Starbucks logo, along with an image of a bulldozer breaking through the Gaza-Israel border fence, the complaint noted.

Customers have issued several complaints to Starbucks customer care over the social media posts.

“I will never visit Starbucks again. You are supporting Hamas terrorists,” one customer said, according to the court complaint. Another said, “You stand with Hamas, I buy my coffee elsewhere.” The corporation added that on Oct. 11, a customer threatened to “shut down” a location in Seattle, along with other Starbucks stores. Two days later, someone vandalized a Rhode Island location, graffitiing a swastika on its front door and Stars of David “on the door and exterior window.”

SBWU on Wednesday filed its own suit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Starbucks, in an effort to continue using the contested images. The union alleges that Starbucks has “defamed” it to “bolster its illegal anti-union campaign.”

Starbucks, which has said “we unequivocally condemn [Hamas’] acts of terrorism” is not the first business taking steps to disassociate its brand from perceived support for terrorism. According to a database created by the Yale University School of Management’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute, dozens of corporations — including Levi Strauss, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Disney, Apple, and General Motors (GM), have condemned Hamas’ atrocities and denounced antisemitism since Oct. 7.

Last week, Air Canada grounded a commercial pilot who posted antisemitic messages across his social media accounts calling for Israel’s destruction, even after Hamas had murdered well over 1,000 Israelis in its multi-pronged invasion of the Jewish state.

“F—k you Israel. Burn in hell,” First Officer Mostafa Ezzo, who piloted an Air Canada-branded B787 plane out of Montreal, wrote in an Instagram Story earlier in the week. A separate image showed him in his Air Canada uniform wearing a Palestinian flag necktie.

In another post, Ezzo held a sign that read, “Keeping the world clean” below an illustration showing the Israeli flag being thrown in the trash.

Other companies have taken action against those promoting Hamas or attacking Israel following the former’s onslaught. A prominent international law firm based in Chicago, Winston & Strawn, rescinded an offer of employment to a law student at New York University who sent a message to the school’s Student Bar Association expressing “absolute solidarity” with the “Palestinian resistance” and blaming Israel for what transpired.

Most recently, Davis Polk & Wardwell, a major New York City law firm, said on Tuesday that it had rescinded job offers to three students at Harvard and Columbia universities who signed letters blaming Israel for — and seemingly justifying — Hamas’ invasion.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.