Legal experts out there: How can you block a trademark such as the one for Ethiopian coffee beans?
By Yahoo User • Category: Trademarks ApplicationEthics aside, how can Starbucks and the National Coffee Association LEGALLY block a trademark application by Ethiopian farmers for their coffee beans, Sidamo and Harar?http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061105/bs_nm/food_coffee_starbucks_dc_1I want to know more about the technicalities involved and how a lawyer would make moves to block an African country from trademarking its coffee. If these coffee beans have been called Sidamo and Hara for a thousand years, what are the technicalities to challenge this in court? It just seems like it’s Ethiopia’s godgiven right to trademark these names…it’s not like the coffee beans are called “Apple” and “Microsoft”.
Applications for trademarks are published. Any individual or firm can file an objection, usually on the grounds of infringement, or that the trademark represents an effort to block the use of a generic term, including a descriptive geographic one.But geographic ones may be protected otherwise also: as appellations d’origine (like wines, Parma ham, cheese, etc.)Here’s one businessperson’s story: http://www.cummingsdesign.com/trademarks_service_marks_problems.htmAnd here’s the official UK Government site about opposition to a trademark application: http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/t-other/t-object/t-object-afterpublish/t-object-afterpublish-oppose.htmAnd the US Government site: http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm