ETHIOPIA: Starbucks, one of the world's leading coffee companies, is involved in a war of words with the Oxfam aid and development agency over the designation of coffee supplied by Ethiopian farmers.
Oxfam claims Starbucks opposed a plan by the Ethiopian government to gain more control over its coffee trade and an estimated $88m (€70m) in potential extra earnings for millions of impoverished coffee farmers.
Last year Ethiopia filed applications in the US to trademark its most famous coffee names, Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe.
"Securing the rights to these names would enable Ethiopia to capture more value from the trade, by controlling their use in the market and thereby enabling farmers to receive a greater share of the retail price," Oxfam said.
Oxfam blames Starbucks for a decision by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to deny Ethiopia's applications for the right to trademark Sidamo and Harar brands.
The Oxfam statement said: "Starbucks intervened in the USPTO decision by prompting the National Coffee Association of USA (NCA), of which it is a leading member, to oppose the approval of the trademarks.
"At a meeting held this past July at the Ethiopian embassy [in Washington DC], embassy staff and advisers met the NCA president to discuss a letter of protest filed against Ethiopia's trademark applications. Ethiopia had submitted its applications about one year earlier.
"According to staffers, when asked why, after a year of doing nothing, the NCA had decided to take action, the president of the NCA told them Starbucks had just brought it to the NCA's attention."
Responding, the Starbucks Coffee Company said it had "never filed an opposition to the Ethiopian government's trademark application, nor claimed ownership to any regional names used to describe the origin of our coffees".