Help Ghost Town Coffee Roasters after lawsuit loss

Hello!

As many of you know, Chad and I own Ghost Town Coffee Roasters in Bozeman, Montana. We have weathered many ups and downs as business owners. This past six months proving to be one of the toughest.

Late last year we developed a coffee blend that was really nice brewed hot, but it was mainly intended as a response to our customer requests for a coffee that was great as a cold brew. After we had it ready to go, we held a blend naming contest with our staff. The winning vote came from a staff member who visited Glacier National Park frequently growing up. We thought Glacier was a great name for our intended cold brew blend.

In April, we were served with a cease and disist order from another Montana based coffee roaster, for using the name Glacier for our coffee blend. In the time it took us to find our own legal representation to help us navigate this situation, we received another notice that we owed them over $20K in legal fees and damages caused. In that time we had been doing all that we could do to rectify this, including coming up with a new name. We sent a personal letter directly to the company, we changed the name of the coffee, and tried to reason with them and did what they asked. There was no response from them, but we did learn later that they simply forwarded our earnest request to their law firm.

We have no problem with companies defending trademarks, but feel there are much better ways to resolve these concerns rather than heavy handed legal means.

This past week a ruling was made without our knowledge that our business checking account be garnished for the full amount of the lawsuit , leaving us heartbroken and scrambling to replace these lost funds. The amount we are asking for is what was pulled from our account.

The great irony with this situation is that a direct phone call or email to us requesting that we change the name would have resulted in us working right away to resolve their concern. We truly believe that small business is still about people and honest communication.

We adapted a new tag line for our business last year. Good. Coffee. People. We strongly believe in our community, both individual and small business. This is the core value we hold and is why we are in the coffee business.

We give all that we can to local causes. Today, we are asking for your support. We have 50 employees that count on us for their livelihood. Any amount will help us to offset this financial hit.

Thank you in advance for anything you feel you can give. If you are unable to donate, please send good thoughts and vibes our way.

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Warmest Regards,

Clarissa, Chad and the Ghost Town Crew