NEW YORK: Dumb Starbucks, a parody coffee shop which opened in a Los Angeles suburb over the weekend has given the major coffee corporation “major heartburn”, news reports said on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal said in a report that “Dumb Starbucks” opened with an offer of free drinks, from “Dumb Caramel Macchiato” to “Dumb Chai Tea Latte,” in sizes ranging from “Dumb Tall” to “Dumb Venti." Pictures on social media showed a line of customers extending out of the front door, which had above it a perfect facsimile of the Starbucks logo, albeit with the word “dumb” squeezed into the outer ring.

The WSJ said workers handed dumbstruck customers booklet which stated that it was in fact a real business, but “for legal reasons Dumb Starbucks needs to be categorised as a work of parody art”. This means a judge may soon have to decide if art can imitate business.

A spokesman for Starbucks Corporation told media it was considering various options against the “parody shop” owners.