designShrine

Only several days have passed since Starbucks and AT&T officially made available free Wi-Fi to US customers (upon purchase, registration, and use of a Starbucks Card with corresponding rewards program), and already T-Mobile, the coffee chain’s pre-existing wireless Internet service partner, has presented a lawsuit in New York state court.

Reuters reported on T-Mobile’s filing Friday evening, in which the company claims that Starbucks “secretly colluded with AT&T to offer free Wi-Fi Internet access in its cafes despite an exclusive agreement with T-Mobile.” T-Mobile is said to be “seeking unspecified damages against Starbucks for breach of its contract and unfair competition.”

Upon announcement of the new deal, Starbucks said that it’s long-standing arrangement with T-Mobile would be phased out in 2008, a plan T-Mobile allows is true, though it says that the stipulations of said plan was that the original provider for Starbucks was to maintain “the exclusive right to ‘sell, market and promote its services’ in Starbucks stores until those stores were fully converted to the AT&T system.” The suit goes on to allege in greater detail that “Starbucks stores would be transitioned (away from T-Mobile) ‘on a market-to-market basis.’” T-Mobile stated that, as of Thursday, the original date of the suit, only locations within San Antonio, TX, and Bakersfield, CA, had completely made the transition.

Though T-Mobile may claim Starbucks has breached their previous agreement, it seems that the coffee giant can perhaps slide past negative judgement in court - if the case is to proceed that far. T-Mobile’s admittance that a gradual, market-to-market transition may well give Starbucks a wide enough window to respond with the technical argument that has followed those rules. It could be exceedingly difficult - save for a good supply of evidence of conflicting transgressions - for T-Mobile to secure a win.

—
Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Free iTunes at Starbucks
Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi
Starbucks’ Bright Idea: Launch a Social Network.
Goombah Holding Starbucks Music Makers Contest Online
AT&T Giving Away Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks
Apple to Launch Wireless Coffee Ordering System?
SMACKDOWN: Veoh Sues Universal Music

Visit the News Source, Mashable

If you liked this, You might also like:

1. Starbucks Revamps their Logo
2. Starbucks has recently changed their well known green mermaid logo to a retro brown version. You may ask why...
3. Paper Crane Mobile
4. Craftster member Jeebles created this inspiring, modern-looking mobile from nothing more than hand-folded paper cranes, thread and ribbon, and...
5. Studio Vertijet Travelmate ventless and mobile fireplace
6. how cool is this! now you can have a fire in your bedroom without setting your blanket on fire....
7. Mapping start-up Socialight opens API
8. For something so focused on navigation and geography, it's a bit ironic that location-based social networks have to work their...
9. PREVIEW OF SALONE DEL MOBILE
10. Looking at Frame's series of previews of this April's Salone del Mobile, we can safely say it's going to be...
11. Amazon Sues NYS Over Sales Tax Issue
12. Amazon Amazon (NASD:AMZN) has sued New York State claiming that a newly passed law governing sales tax for affiliate programs...
13. List of Great IT Tools!
14. I found this great collection of tools for a variety of venues like flickr and your blogs. 40+ Tools For...
15. Mp3 Music T-Shirts by Music and Sons
16. MUSIC T-shirts designed for Mp3 player use, first with stereo earphones integrated. Wear your Music and ROCK ALONG YOUR...
17. Free & Cheap Royalty-Free Stock Photos
18. Free Stock Photos Websites where you can find and download free stock photography. Be sure to review usage restrictions,...
19. 700 APIs and Counting, Now at 40 Per Month
20. 40 new APIs per month. That’s how many APIs we’ve seen added to our API directory at ProgrammableWeb in each...