A small café in Karachi has scored an unexpected victory against global coffee giant Starbucks after Pakistan’s courts ruled in its favor in a trademark dispute.
The café, known as Sattar Buksh, first opened in 2013 with a bold identity: a green circular logo featuring a moustached man and a name that sounded strikingly similar to Starbucks. While the design sparked heated debate online, the café’s founders — Rizwan Ahmad and Adnan Yousuf — insisted their brand was satire rooted in local culture, not an attempt to copy.
They explained that Sattar Buksh is a name tied to centuries of tradition in Pakistan, and their logo elements, fonts, and colors carried their own identity. To avoid confusion, they later added disclaimers clarifying they had no connection to Starbucks.
Despite Starbucks having no outlets in Pakistan at the time, the multinational pursued legal action, arguing that the café’s branding violated trademark protections for well-known international companies. But the court disagreed, siding with the local café.
Beyond the logos and names, Sattar Buksh carved out its own niche with a quirky menu — offering not just coffee but burgers, pizzas, shisha, and humor-filled dishes like the “Besharam Burger” (served without buns) and the “LOC Pizza,” divided into vegetarian and non-vegetarian halves to mirror the India-Pakistan border.
