Starbucks in copyright spat with Ethiopia

26 October 2006
Starbucks in copyright spat with Ethiopia

US coffee chain Starbucks is resisting attempts by Ethiopia to copyright the names of some of its most well-known coffee beans.

Starbucks and a coffee industry association are embroiled in a spat with the African nation's government over whether the coffee names Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe belong to Ethiopia, or can be used by anyone without restrictions.

According to charity Oxfam, the Ethiopian government last year filed copyright applications to trademark the coffee names in a move that would have increased its annual export earnings from coffee by 25%. However, the charity said that Starbucks blocked the country's application, effectively denying it up to £47m of earnings a year.

Ethiopia is simultaneously trying to secure the rights to the three coffee names via the US Patent and Trademark Office.

It has succeeded in its attempt to trademark the name Yirgacheffe, but a final decision has not been made on the other two.

Coffee trade group National Coffee Association of USA, of which Starbucks is a member, has filed protests arguing that the names are generic.

Starbucks to introduce cashless payment system >>

Starbucks ups long-term store target to 40,000 >>

By Kerstin Kühn

E-mail your comments to Kerstin Kühn](mailto:kerstin.kuhn@rbi.co.uk?subject=Starbucks in copyright spat with Ethiopia) here.

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week -

[Sudoku](http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=302619 "A new puzzle every day!") Join the craze and play Sudoku online!
[Newswire For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail news alerts.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking