The following news article reports, “Ethiopia has just resolved a dispute with the US-based Starbucks coffee chain over trademarks after the two sides agreed in principle to sign a licensing and marketing deal which recognises the country’s ownership of its premium varieties of coffee beans.” It should be noted, however, that the two sides have not signed the agreement to date. According to the recent joint statement issued on May 3, 2007 by the Ethiopian government and Starbucks, they were supposed to sign the licensing agreement before the end of May, 2007. It is understandable that negotiations of any sort sometimes take longer time than estimated, but whenever that happens, it is important that the parties acknowledge the delay and provide explanations for missed deadlines. As a good service to the public, I think the government and Starbucks officials should issue an official notice with a renewed target date for the expected resolution of their differences. On the other hand, it ...