Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: the Battle of Sidamo

摘要

Through a savvy use of the trade mark system, licensing agreements and consumer lobbying, the Government of Ethiopia has been able to achieve a better economic return from a commodity product. Prior to its battle with Starbucks, Ethiopian coffee fanners were receiving about US $1 per kg of the final retail price for Sidamo coffee sold in the United States, with the exporting sector receiving about US $2 per kg. With SIDAMO registered as a trade mark in the United States and numerous retailers signed up as licensees, it is estimated that Ethiopian farmers could raise their income to around the US $6-8 per kg level. Ethiopia's total coffee export return of US $400 million per annum before its battle would then have risen to around US $ 1.2-1.6 billion per annum.36 The Government of Ethiopia's actions therefore illustrate a clever use of the IP system to capture more value from the work undertaken by its coffee farmers. According to various observers, this was a radical plan.