Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but in the case of Starbucks Corp.'s mobile payment application such flattery may cross the line into infringing on a company’s rights.

An article from American Banker looks at the case of an unofficial Android version of Starbucks' popular mobile payment application. The official application has been available for iPhone and BlackBerry devices for some time, but an Android application has not yet been released.

Enter Stewart Gateley. According to the American Banker story, Gateley was a former shift supervisor at a Starbucks in suburban Portland, Ore. Instead of waiting for an official Android version of the Starbucks application, Gateley made his own app. Called "My Coffee Card," Gateley's unofficial Android version of the Starbucks mobile payment application worked just like the official iOS and BlackBerry versions, displaying a bar code linked to the customer's prepaid Starbucks card.

The presence of an unofficial application has caused Starbucks some concern. A previous version of Gateley's application was met with a cease-and-desist letter from Starbucks in February. In the letter, Starbucks noted that while the company appreciates Gateley's "enthusiasm for Starbucks Corporation and the mobile payment experience," it had "concerns...that the (application's) use of Starbucks Corporation's trademarks is likely to confuse customers."

The letter went on to say the application accessed customers' personal data and any loss of that data would reflect badly on the company.

After receiving the cease-and-desist missive from Starbucks, Gateley removed the offending app. He then launched the current "My Coffee Card" application which expressly states it is not affiliated with Starbucks and that no consumer data is stored by the app.

The American Banker article does not say whether or not Starbucks plans on responding to Gateley's new application, but a spokeswoman for the company did say Starbucks is "not able to support or guarantee unofficial apps."

Starbucks has said it plans on releasing an Android version of its mobile payment application in the near future, but no date has been given.