Ethiopia wins U.S. trademark rights for coffee brand

ADDIS ABABA, March 5 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has won trademark rights for its specialty Sidamo coffee in the United States, the country's intellectual property office said on Wednesday.

Africa's largest coffee producer had a protracted tussle with Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) last year over the use of the name in the United States.

"Ethiopia was forced to wait for years to secure the certificate...but now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has confirmed that Ethiopia is the sole owner of the Sidamo coffee trademark," the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) said in a statement.

Ethiopia has already secured trademark rights for Yirgacheffee coffee in the United States.

Starbucks and Addis Ababa agreed to end their dispute in November 2007.

Ethiopia has filed an application for trademark rights for its Harar coffee, the statement said.

It said Ethiopia had signed agreements with more than 70 global companies to promote its coffees.

Ethiopia's annual production is estimated at over 330,000 tonnes. It plans to generate $500 million by exporting over 140,000 tonnes of coffee in 2008.

Ethiopia is recognised as the historic birthplace of coffee and the source of some of the finest coffee in the world. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; editing by Michael Roddy) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ )