Timeline

Chronological order of major events in the Starbucks vs. Ethiopia dispute over coffee names

2004: Starbucks filed application to register “Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo” trademark. Ethiopia asked Starbucks to drop its application because the country is preparing to register the names Sidamo and Harar; Starbucks refused to talk

2005 March : The Government of Ethiopia filed applications with USPTO to trademark Harrar, Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe

2006*: NCA filed a letter of protest asking Ethiopia's application to register all the names be denied. Starbucks then drop its application for “Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo” but continued to ignore Ethiopia's call to discuss. Ethiopia's application for Yirgacheffe trademark has been granted; members of the contesting party expressed their regrets for lack of preparations to block it. Ethiopia continued to seek Starbucks' voluntary agreement acknowledging the country's ownership of the names Sidamo and Harar

2006 October: Oxfam and 85,000 Starbucks customers asked Starbucks to come to the table to discuss and sign a Licensing Agreement with Ethiopia acknowledging Ethiopia's ownership of the names Sidamo and Harar

2006 November: Oxford Professor offered an independent view and analysis concluding that Starbucks should help Ethiopians to dig themselves out of poverty by allowing them to participate meaningfully in the value chain, not deny them the means to do so (read here)

2006 December: Starbucks Employees Union asked Starbucks to honor its commitment to the coffee farmers (read here)

2006 December 16: Starbucks Day of Action took the public campaign to a new phase. Activists from Ethiopian community, regional Fair Trade coalitions, University students, and consumer groups took the campaign to doorsteps of Starbucks coffee houses engaging employees and consumers with discussions over Starbucks' refusal to allow Ethiopian farmers to trademark their own coffee names. Analysts say, the campaign is turning the public dispute over the coffee names into questioning the values behind the Starbucks brand, which has so far been seen by the educated and modern class of the society as ethical, thereby shaking the bottom line.

2006 December: Starbucks CEO Jim Donald and other company executives travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet with the Prime Minister. Meeting concluded with no agreement reached.

2007 February: Starbucks senior officials led by two VPs, Dub Hay and Sandra Taylor, accompanied by Rosa Whitaker, founder of Rosa Whitaker Associates, a Washington-based lobbying group, travelled to Addis Ababa, for a second time, to meet with governemt officials and to attend the 4th East Africa Fine Coffee Association (EAFCA) conference.

The company said it would no longer oppose Ethiopia’s trade mark applications, which it has aggressively done, and denied. No agreement was reached with the company maintaining it position of refusing to sign the licensing agreement. In exchange, Starbucks announced a six point incentive package.

Starbucks and the Ethiopian government issued a joint press statement. Critics viewed this as a public relations victory for Starbucks and criticized the government for signing on a joint press statement while there was no agreement on the fundamental trademark issue.

On the other hand, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and several others announced that they accept Ethiopia’s position and continued the process of formalizing this acceptance.A leaked memo exposed Starbucks President Howard Schultz's email to company senior officers expressing his concern over the brand's "watering-down." He urged the executives to pay attention as they prepare the 2008 strategic plan.

2007 May 3: Starbucks agreed “in principle” to sign the licensing agreement. The joint statement signed by EIPO and Starbucks reads:

“Representatives of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and senior leaders from Starbucks Coffee Company today announced that they have completed two days of constructive discussions and the parties have agreed in principle to sign a licensing, distribution and marketing agreement that recognizes the importance and integrity of Ethiopia’s specialty coffee names.

“The Government of Ethiopia and Starbucks Coffee look forward to formalizing the details of the agreement and signing it in May 2007.”

2007 June 20: Following long series of secret negotiations, Starbucks and representatives of the Government of Ethiopia announced that they have concluded their agreement. A celebration ceremony and a reception planned to be held at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC and at the Ambassador's residence had to be canceled for undisclosed reasons. The invitations for the ceremonies were sent by Rosa Whitaker, founder of the Whitaker Group, and Ambassador Samuel Assefa to selected individuals. The events were later postponed to "a later date in Summer," according to the follow-up emails.

Terms of the said agreement are not made public. As a result, rumor and speculations reigned. Concerned individuals confronted the Ethiopian Government's representatives demanding an explannation to what happened. A further scrutiny of the secret deal led to this exchange of letters between the government representatives and one of the founders and ex-staffer of LYIP.

Coffee Politics conducted an independent research and investigation into the matter by interviewing the parties' representatives. The results are published in this initial report.

2007, August 20: I published the saga of the Ethiopia-Starbucks dispute and my assessment of it's conclusion here.

2007, November 28: Howard Shultz, chairman of Starbucks met with Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi on his visit to Ethiopia. The company announced plans to build a support centre for Ethiopian coffee farmers, claiming an end to a long-running dispute with Ethiopia.

"We are here to turn the page of the misunderstandings, for a new beginning," said Howard Shultz, after having signed a coffee distribution and marketing deal with the Ethiopian government. – AP

2007, December 2: Critics and experts who’ve been monitoring the Ethio-Starbucks trademark dispute demanded that the parties publicize the details of the agreement they claim they signed.

Starbucks Corporation Chairman and Chief Global Strategist, Howard Schultz, came to visit Ethiopia a few months after his company signed a deal with Ethiopia recognising the trademark right the latter has over three of its coffee varieties. He met with Ethiopian authorities, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and gave a lecture on balancing "business with benevolence" on Friday, November 30, 2007, at the Sheraton Addis. In all these, neither Mr. Schulz nor Ethiopian authorities have revealed the content of the agreement they have signed, observes Shlomo Bachrach. Employed by Ethiopia's trademarks advisor, LightYears IP, and resigning before the Starbucks negotiations began, Mr. Bachrach has a lot more questions than answers. - Addis Fortune

2008, February 9: I voiced my concerns over the secrecy of the agreement between Starbucks and the Ethiopian Government here.

2008, May 7: Samuel Assefa (Ph.D.), Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the US and Getachew Mengiste, EIPO Director, paid an announced visit to Starbucks' headquarters in Seattle for private meetings with the coffee chain’s Owner Howard Schultz and others.

2009, March 10: The Seattle Times reported that " Starbucks does not know when it will open a support center for coffee farmers in Ethiopia that was scheduled to open last year, according to spokeswoman Deb Trevino."

The delay was originally reported by the Ethiopian news site Capital, which cited Starbucks' head of public relations, Vivek Varma, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

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* According to an email from the National Coffee Association, the NCA filed its protest in 2006 and not in 2005 as previously reported on Coffee Politics.

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