Coffee Politics Stands Down Surprise! Oxfam announced today that Starbucks and Ethiopia signed an agreement and that it ended the campaign against Starbucks. The organization’s press release reads: "Starbucks and Ethiopia signed a distribution, marketing and licensing agreement today that ends their trademark dispute and brings them together in partnership to help Ethiopian coffee farmers. International relief and development agency Oxfam welcomes the agreement that has the potential to give farmers a fairer share of the profits for their world-renowned coffee brands, Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe." I re-read the press releases issued by the parties involved including LYIP, Starbucks, Ethiopia, and Oxfam, but the vernacular is going over my head. For instance, what does “recognition of designations” and that the recognition includes “the license of certain trademarks” mean? All in all, I think the following two paragraphs hold the key to the agreement: “It provides a framewor...