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LYIP: Ethiopia’s Coffee Trademarking Project Continues With or Without Starbucks


It’s a quiet time for Starbucks, at least in its fight with Ethiopia. The two sides are holding their second meeting this week. The Ethiopian Ambassador for Washington, Samuel Assefa and Howard Schultz met on April 3, 2007 in Seattle. No detail has ever been released from either side.

While the multinational giant, aided by the lobbying group founded by Rosa Whitaker, is enjoying the relative calm, the Ethiopian Coffee Trademarking and Licensing Initiative training is underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The training for key stakeholders of Ethiopian fine coffees including exporters, cooperative managers, farmers and management of the Ethiopian Coffee Trademarking and Licensing Initiative is lead by Light Years IP (LYIP).

Training the Licensing Team, as referred to by LYIP, began today, April 17, 2007 in the capital city of Ethiopia and expected to run through the week.

LYIP advertises this program as a monumental achievement in the early phase of the project. The organization has created a new blog dedicated to the training program at http://blog.lightyearsip.net. The organization says the blog will feature “real-time updates from the Light Years Team and participants.”

Meanwhile, the trademark initiative continues to face a predicament here in the US. The USPTO recently refused to register Sidamo as a trademark. There is no activity regarding the application for Harar since January 25, 200y.

Despite the continued meetings between Ethiopia and Starbucks, there is no sign that Starbucks would ever change its position and acknowledge Ethiopia’s ownership of its own coffee marks by signing the licensing agreement.

Ethiopia has successfully registered the coffee marks in several countries including Canada, the European Union, Japan, and others.

Training the “licensing team” is a necessary component of the coffee trademarking project.

Ethiopia will undoubtedly benefit from the transfer of knowledge; however, the impact of this training on the implementation phase of the trademarking initiative, particularly in the US, remains to be seen.

I will continue to monitor, and provide updates on, the project including this latest training program.

A link to the LYIP blog is placed on the sidebar of this page.

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