Poor Farmer

The recent agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and Starbucks is, unfortunately, breeding more questions than answers, the main reason being the parties’ choice to keep the settlement of the long-fought trademark dispute secret. Senior government officials who signed the agreement on behalf of Ethiopia's coffee sector cite a confidentiality agreement they have signed with Starbucks as an excuse for not disclosing the details. Dr. Samuel Assefa, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the US and Getachew Mengistie, Director of Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) have, however, shared some of the major elements of the agreement which are not bound by the confidentiality agreement during this interview. During the interview, they hinted that one of the major benefits the agreement brings for Ethiopia is that the country’s common law rights to the trademarks, Harar, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe are recognized where the law applies. To find out what comfort such common law rights provide...

Synopsis of the case of Ethiopia’s battle against Starbucks over trademarks “For every cup of Ethiopian coffee Starbucks sells, Ethiopian farmers earn 3¢. Tell Starbucks: Honor your commitments to coffee farmers.” – Oxfam, October, 2006 "Ethiopia salutes Starbucks for its exemplary display of global corporate citizenship." - Dr. Samuel Assefa, the Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States, June 20, 2007 “We don’t have any additional information to provide beyond what Ambassador Samuel Assefa and Getachew Mengistie already shared.” – Stacey Krum, Starbucks Global Brand Communication, August 3, 2007 The trademark dispute between Ethiopia and Starbucks has ended with a bizarre and mysterious accord. Ethiopia, one of the ancient civilizations in the world, collided with a symbol of globalization and, to some extent, challenged the status-quo without success. The outcome should serve third-world countries as a reminder of the harsh reality that they have far go to get control o...

I received the following message from Getachew Mengistie, Director of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) shortly after I published this interview with the government’s officials: Dear Wondwossen, Thank you very much for sending me the script.* I have found that some of the answers are incomplete or wrong. This may be due to poor communication.** I would thus like to give clarifications below and kindly ask you to make the necessary corrections in the blog. I really appreciate the excellent work that you have been doing in promoting the initiative. With warmest regards I think the remarks are too snappish for the clarifications offered because, in my view, the clarifications did not have substantial impacts on the contents. For the sake of clarity I have reposted the questioned Q & A’s followed by the clarification and my comments. * Since this blog is blocked in Ethiopia, as are many others, I had to include a copy of the transcript/posting in the body of my email t...

Exclusive interview with Coffee Politics (CP) (in Seattle): Samuel Assefa, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the US (in Washington, DC) and Getachew Mengistie, Director of Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.) The news regarding the settlement of the dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopia over that country’s famous coffee marks received mixed responses. While the majority of people felt that was a relief, some people, especially those who have been closely following the story were skeptical. The skepticism emanated mainly from the unnecessary level of secrecy the negotiating parties hurdled themselves with. To add to the confusion, the joint press release issued on June 20, 2007 was as vague as it could be. The release which was supposed to announce the end of the dispute read: “Representatives of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and senior leaders from Starbucks Coffee Company today announced that they have concluded an agreement regar...

Ethiopia's government representatives who have been negotiating with Starbucks speak for the first time in an exclusive interview with Coffee Politics about the licensing agreement they said have signed on behalf of Ethiopia. What is in the agreement and, most importantly, what's the secrecy all about? Script of the interview will be published on Monday, July 30, 2007. Stay tuned.

Since the trademark dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopia was officially declared to be over on June 20, 2007, there has been a growing skepticism about the very settlement of the matter. Neither side of the parties is willing to disclose the details of the agreement they say have signed. For the past thirty days, I have been trying to get first hand information from the parties to no tangible success. Starbucks would not respond to my repeated calls. From the government’s side, I was privileged to speak with Samuel Assefa, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Washington and Getachew Mengistie, Director of Ethiopia’s Intellectual Property Office on general matters but, to this date, I have not gotten the answers to the questions I have gathered from readers of this blog. In the coming days, I will publish the questions, hopefully with (if not, without) the government’s response. In the mean time, the saga continues as Addis Fortune entertains the exchange of letters between the government’s repre...

Companies are using the label when their blends are 10 percent Associated Press July 22, 2007 There's a debate brewing about how much Kona coffee should be required to qualify as a "Kona blend" product. Many smaller independent coffee farmers see the valuable Kona brand being diluted by large coffee companies, a situation exacerbated by a state law allowing blends with just 10 percent Kona coffee to advertise as "Kona blend." Many growers say that 10 percent is such a small proportion that the Kona coffee can't even be tasted. The 10 percent Kona blended products often sell for a quarter of the price of pure Kona coffee. Some have pushed for a 75-percent blend. But opposition from the big coffee blenders stopped legislation this past session that would have increased the Kona coffee in blends. Lawmakers called for a study to see how best to market the pricey Kona brand. Kona Joe Coffee owner Deepa Alban said the blend battle illustrates how coffee makers sho...