Comments on: Starbucks CEO sez he doesn’t get the diff between trademarks and certification

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:11:43 +0000

I know you were not disagreeing, Siel. I really just dont see much of a chance unless they allow it and than proclaim that no other coffee names can be trademarked from here on out. When thousands upon thousands of American Shareholders can lose money, no one cares if an Ethiopian can eat. Its unfortunate that money has become a be all end all. Everybody just wants to be rich.

By: Siel

Siel — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:30:57 +0000

Hey Adam — Wanna make it clear that I’m not disagreeing with you at all — Yes, big biz is king around here. What I’m wondering in terms of this situation is how we can make the Ethiopia trademark issue that 1 time out of 10. Think we have a chance?

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 04:39:00 +0000

Remember “U.S.” is the operative word. The US trademark office will at the end of the day 9 times out of 10 do what is in the best interest of U.S. businesses and citizens. When you have to make as much money as you can for your shareholders alot of times people get trounced on. Until “money at all cost” changes citizens in countries like Ethiopia will be exploited. This country really got screwy when the government gave corporate business citizen status. All the tax breaks of a corporation and all the rights of a citizen. Not something our founding fathers intended.

By: Siel

Siel — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:06:01 +0000

Rodney — Your comment makes me think I should do a post whenever Starbucks sends out a new press release about how much money they’ve given to this or that cause — with stats on how that compares to Jim Donald’s salary. :P

Adam — I’m just hoping that the US trademark office will not just succumb to biz interests. Clearly, corps are a big influence on the trademark office — but I’m still hopeful that that consumer and activist influence can counteract that effectively –

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:31:46 +0000

Unfortunately business is business and until business law changes people will always intervene in what is right to safe guard their paychecks. Right now you buy the Starbucks brand, that is the trademark for quality that they want you to be concerned with. With a trademark, Ethiopia can set the price for their coffee at a premium and make it harder to get lumped in with commodity coffee prices. If it is a success other top quality coffee producers will do the same. Than the Starbucks brand may become diluted because the quality of the product may shift to the region you buy from regardless if it is Starbucks or not. Than you may have a snowball effect where prices rise on them and they cant pass it on to their customers. Itâ€™s all about profits, and for them it is probably billions in market cap at stake.

By: Rodney North

Rodney North — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 03:00:48 +0000

Siel, as always - thanks for keeping us up to date on the twists and turns of stories like this.

By the way, there was one mistake in the Times article. Jim Donald’s 2005 compensation was actually nearly $11,000,000 when you include stock options. This is similar to the average annual pay of Orin Smith, which according to BusinessWeek also was typically about $10,000,000.

Funny how the million dollars that STBX spreads here or there gets a lot of ink, but these millions rarely do. And - as we see here - even when it IS mentioned, the man’s paycheck is actually understated by 75%.