In the high-stakes world of coffee, where espresso shots fly faster than lawsuits at a tech convention, Starbucks is now being asked to cough up $15.2 million. The lawsuit comes courtesy of Masimo Corporation, a medical technology company that you would think has better things to do than wage war over software used to divide cappuccino cash among baristas, but here we are.
The issue boils down to what Masimo says is a most regrettable breach of software licensing terms. It claims Starbucks used its SedLine brain monitoring tech not to measure the thoughts of sleepy coffee drinkers but rather to power a tipping function in the Starbucks app. This, Masimo says, was wildly outside the terms of agreement, which were presumably written in a font small enough to trigger caffeine withdrawal headaches from mere perusal.
Starbucks, ever the giant in the caffeinated lane of global commerce, has yet to publicly respond to the accusations. Presumably it is still trying to figure out how a company best known for medical sensors wandered into its tech stack in the first place. Masimo alleges that the coffee chain breached a 2011 software licensing agreement by copying and modifying code to be used in digital tipping. One assumes Masimo has not received a tip for that effort.
In legal filings, Masimo said Starbucks created a “derivative work” without the necessary permission, which in software licensing circles is the equivalent of borrowing your neighbor’s lawnmower to build a Ferris wheel. Starbucks allegedly continued to use this code in its app to allow customers to tip digitally, even after communication with Masimo became frostier than an iced macchiato in February.
Masimo’s suit seeks damages amounting to over $15 million, which is roughly equivalent to the cost of several hundred thousand pumpkin spice lattes, plus change. The case is now headed to federal court in California, where legal arguments are likely to be served piping hot and everyone’s briefs come with an extra shot of drama.
Because nothing says “cutting-edge medical technology” quite like helping people throw a dollar at the barista who spelled their name “Sterbucks.”