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What to Look For in the Starbucks-Ethiopia Agreement


According to the countdown counter at the bottom-left of this page, it has been 35 days since Starbucks and the government of Ethiopia announced their agreement “in principle” and promised to sign the licensing agreement by the end of May, 2007.

Though neither side is willing to discuss the details of their negotiations, the lawyers representing the parties have been working on the licensing agreement for sometime now.

The public is left to suspense as the parties continue to come close to a moving deadline. With a prolonged resolution date the public’s curiosity to learn about the details of the licensing agreement is growing. I have attempted to get first hand information from second level parties, Light Years IP and Oxfam, but they have not responded to my repeated enquiries.

Once again, there are signs that lead me to believe that the parties are gearing up to announce the outcome of their negotiation as early as this week. If that happens, expect a flood of breaking news articles either after close or just before opening of the New York Stock Exchange market one of these days.

Regardless of when the deal is announced, what is of great value is the content of the agreement. After all, Starbucks is not negotiating for nothing. Personally, the difference between “agree in principle” and “agree to disagree” is not clear to me.

The details of the negotiations are important and should become public. Those companies that have signed the licensing agreement and all would be licensees are equally interested in the terms which Starbucks is agreeing on. In all fairness, all licensees should be offered the option of signing the agreement á la carté if that option is available. Needless to say, I agree with this only as long as the poor farmers' interests are not compromised.

We look forward to reading the press release, which I hope will do a good service to the public by providing a detailed account of the agreement.

Comments

  1. Russell JenkinsThu Jun 07, 05:09:00 PM PDT

    Thanks for the good information. I will drink Starbuck again when they have an actually agreement worked out....if it is fair of course !

    Russell
    Huancayo Peru

    ReplyDelete
  2. WondwossenThu Jun 07, 06:59:00 PM PDT

    Good point, Russell. Thanks for being there when the farmers needed your voice! It is my wish as well that you and thousands others will once again enjoy your coffees at Starbucks ...

    Greetings to Peru and the people!

    ReplyDelete

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