Cache Coffee and More boasts about being “patriot-owned” and “not politically correct” with blends that include ”Not-So-Sleepy Joe — MAGA Roast” — channeling the nickname President Donald Trump gave President Joe Biden.
The Logan coffee shop took its trademark brashness to Facebook last year when a protester carried a hand-scrawled sign declaring ”I love my coffee fascism free" at a Cache Valley “No Kings” rally.
“I normally don’t feed the trolls, however, he went out of his way to make a special sign just for Jamie,” the shop wrote, posting a photo of the man snapped by Idaho photographer Sharon Rose Vanygriff Christenson with his face scribbled over.
The shop has since used a cartoon version of the photo to sell its coffee, changing the writing on the smiling protester’s mug from “No Kings” to its logo.
Christenson is now suing Cache Coffee and More and one of its owners, Jamie Buttars, over the company’s use of the image, alleging copyright infringement.
Buttars declined to comment.
Christenson took the photo in October and later filed for copyright protection, according to the lawsuit.
On another social media post, a man who used the original photo as his profile picture, along with the photographer, objected to the shop using the image, adding the company “damn near” doxxed him.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, says the photo was removed from Facebook after Christenson filed a request with the social media site to take it down.
Still, the lawsuit alleges, Cache Coffee and More continued to use the picture, creating its cartoon version for a coffee label, with the protester’s sign reading: “I love my coffee caffeine free.” It also has used the image on its cups, according to the complaint.
The filing alleges Christenson warned Cache Coffee and More that the photo was copyrighted and the company couldn’t use it without permission.
The complaint claims that Christenson is entitled up to $30,000 for damages due to copyright infringement. Christenson is also entitled to up to $150,000, according to the lawsuit, because Cache Coffee and More willfully infringed on her work after Facebook removed the image from the company’s account.
Randall B. Bateman, Christenson’s attorney, declined to comment beyond what is already mentioned in the lawsuit. Christenson did not respond to questions sent to her photography business’s email.
As of Saturday, a decaf roast with a label bearing the cartoon was still available on the company’s website.
