Poor Farmer

Chain's Image Rattled By Trademark Spat; Hints of Chocolate, Rum About a year ago, Starbucks’ lack of responsiveness to the Ethiopian government’s request to drop its application for Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo coffee and to discuss the licensing agreement was grating. Even after the dispute came to the public’s attention, the company has been dragging its feet and misleading the public. As the following report reveals, the company is still pursuing their intransigent actions by trying to persuade Ethiopia to buy into the company’s good-will. At the outset of the public campaign to pressure Starbucks to respect the Ethiopia’s farmers and come to the table to discuss the issue, some feared that Starbucks would stop buying coffee from Ethiopia, thereby hurting the farmers. Those familiar with the company’s behavior said, it was unlike Starbucks to seek revenge in public. Also, they argued, Starbucks is expanding and needs more of Ethiopia’s coffees to supply the thousands of stor...

Starbucks’ officials have so far been successful in concealing the company's unfair business practices under the touted Coffee and Farmers Equity (CAFÉ) Practice - a PR tool which has given the wrong impression to consumers and shareholders that the company was doing its business in a “socially responsible” manner. In reality, while Starbucks scores record profits, the farmers are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty. Starbucks is mindful of its own profits with little regard to the people behind its brand. According to the the Wall Street Journal (subscription), Starbucks officials are satisfied with their relationship with the farmers and are thankful of the "gift": "I looked everyone in the eye and shook their hand and said, 'Thank you for giving us this wonderful product,'" recalls Dub Hay, the Starbucks executive. "It's one of the more special things I've ever experienced." In the report, “ Starbucks vs. Ethiopia ,” posted here...

The chain's image has suffered in its trademark fight with the Ethiopian government. By Dominic Rushe in New York The Sunday Times March 04, 2007 LAST Friday was an annual holiday in Ethiopia to commemorate the Battle of Adowa in 1896 and the routing of Italian forces at the end of the first Italo-Abyssinian war. Holiday or no holiday, the prime minister, Meles Zanawi, spent part of the day drawing up his defences in another battle, one that has occupied the country for the past two years — a fight with Starbucks over the impoverished country’s famous coffee. This is a truly modern engagement, fired by the forces of globalisation and fought with lawyers. But according to Starbucks’s critics, it tells an ancient tale, with the coffee chain branded as a modern-day colonialist exploiting Ethiopia’s 1,000-year-old coffee culture. Fittingly enough, the fight is being played out on that most modern of battlegrounds — the video website YouTube. Coffee is Ethiopia’s largest export, and the...

What's in a name? Ethiopia's battle against Starbucks Foreign Policy February 28, 2007 Ethiopia, fed up with getting short-changed when selling its popular coffee products to the West, has been in legal conflict with Starbucks since 2005. Ethiopia complains that while a pound of coffee sold in the United States nets Ethiopian farmers about $1, the same pound of coffee sells for $26 at Starbucks under the name "Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo." Ethiopia argues that the high price for its coffee is not just the result of roasting, packaging or marketing in the United States, but because there is something consumers intrinsically value in Ethiopian coffee. Ethiopia is frustrated that it hasn't been able to capitalize on the "intellectual property" of its coffee-producing regions, and wants that to change. In March 2005, Ethiopia filed a case with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the names of three of its renowned coffee-producing regions (Yirga...

A few weeks back, Starbucks Senior VP Dub Hay said on this video that Ethiopia's coffee trademark attempts are illegal. Bob Winter of Arnold and Porter LLP responds on YouTube to Starbucks talks about coffee farmers in Africa and says that Hay's claim is totally absurd. You might wonder what Hay would have to say. Well, a comment posted - as Starbucks Coffee Company - on YouToube reads: "Since our 1st video was posted, a lot has happened. When we posted that video we felt the information was correct & since we've learned a lot & realized the information about the legality of the trademark was not accurate. Dub & other Starbucks partners recently visited Africa & met with the Ethiopian Govt. We agreed not to oppose Ethiopia's efforts to obtain trademarks for its specialty coffees, Sidamo, Harar/Harrar & Yirgacheffe, & its efforts to create a network of licensed distributors. "Also, we agreed to work together to help increase Ethiopian ...

NCA Says Opposed The Coffee Trademarks to Protect Ethiopian Farmers In a recent visit to the National Coffee Association (NCA) website, I ran into a welcome message at the front page that reads: "We serve the public, the coffee industry and our association members." The overview page elaborates this statement further: “[Since 1911,]…the NCA has helped American coffee companies through some of the most volatile periods in the nation's history, including two world wars, a depression, a cold war and numerous frosts, strikes and cartels, not to mention a wide range of consumer trends in the U.S. coffee market. “That success is based on the Association's ability to respond to external issues, wherever and whenever they arise. Whatever issue has impacted the coffee trade, the Association has represented the U.S. coffee industry before the legislative and executive branches of government, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Trade Representative's Office,...

Starbucks vs. Ethiopia The country that gave the world the coffee bean and the company that invented the $4 latte are fighting over a trademark, says Fortune's Stephan Faris. By Stephan Faris , Fortune February 26 2007: 5:56 AM EST (Fortune Magazine) -- To produce a pound of organic sun-dried coffee, farmers in the southern Ethiopian village of Fero spread six pounds of ripe, red coffee cherries onto pallets near their fields. They sun the fruit for 15 days, stirring every few minutes to ensure uniform dryness, then shuck the shells. Last season, that pound of coffee fetched farmers an average price of $1.45. Figuring in the cost of generator fuel, bank interest, labor and transport across Ethiopia's dusty roads, it netted them less than $1. In the U.S., however, that same pound of coffee commands a much higher price: $26 for a bag of Starbucks' roasted Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo. The price differential, says Getachew Mengistie, head of Ethiopia's Intellectual Property O...