Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Starbucks Fights Russian Trademark Squatter

A Chicago Tribune article reports on the lack of enforcement of intellectual property laws in Russia.   A Russian trademark squatter named Zuykov is demanding $600,000 from Starbucks to release the Starbucks logo.   Starbucks refuses to pay, and is fighting back.   Starbucks has won recent victories in Rospatent, the Russian trademark office.   But Zuykov threatens to open his own "Starbucks" cafe in Moscow, and he isn't too concerned with maintaining Starbucks' reputation.

"Coffee is coffee," Zuykov said. "If they don't like it, they'll leave and won't come again."

1 comment:

Webmaster said...

Thanks Helen, I'm glad you found it interesting. I think the situation in Russia is a bit odd.
Hopefully they will get things sorted out soon.