Starbucks unyielding on Ethiopia's coffee trademarks

AFP
Novemeber 29, 2006

The charity made the call after Oxfam chief Jim Donald and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held talks in a bid to end the row, which has allegedly denied the impoverised Horn of Africa nation its rightful due.

Row has been lingering

"It is significant that after a year of trying to engage Starbucks on trademarks, the company finally sat down to discuss the issue directly with Ethiopia," said Abera Tola, Oxfam America's Regional Director.

"Starbucks must now follow up with immediate action to recognise Ethiopia's rights to own the names of its coffees to ensure that coffee farmers get a fairer share of the value of their crop," he explained.

The Oxford-based charity said Starbuck should "stop dragging its feet before the holidays, and instead recognise Ethiopia's ownership of its coffee names and the enormous benefits that ownership could bring to the 15 million poor Ethiopians who depend on coffee for their livelihood."

Starbucks won’t budge

Ethiopia had applied to trademark its most famous coffee names, Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe, enabling it to control their use and allow farmers to receive a greater share of the retail price.

But in mid-August, the US Patent and Trademark Office ruled in favour of a protest by the National Coffee Association, which represents US coffee roasters including Starbucks, against the trademark application.

The NCA said the bid was bad economics and bad for Ethiopian farmers, and Starbucks said that Ethiopia would be better served by cooperating to give its coffee beans geographical designations.

But the patent office's examiner said such names had become too generic as descriptions of coffee to be trademarked. Ethiopia can appeal the decision.

Oxfam accused Starbucks of being behind the NCA protest, saying the US chain was denying Ethiopian producers an estimated 47-million pounds (70-million euros, 88.5-million dollars) a year.