Starbucks Trademark in Russia Will Cost Them 600K

Starbucks plans to open its first coffee house in Russia this October. According to a Russia newspaper, Starbucks will be open for business in the territory of the U.S. embassy and will only serve the staff there.

The popular U.S. coffee chain cannot enter the Russian market due to the fact that rights to its trademark are held by Russian squatter Sergei Zujkov and his company Starbucks LLC.

In September 2004 Starbucks LLC registered the Starbucks trademark in Russia.  The US chain filed at the beginning of 2005. By mid July the Chamber for Patent Disputes deprived Starbucks LLC of its rights to the trademark. The Russian company then contested the ruling in Moscow’s Arbitration Court. The court prohibited Boris Simonov, the head of the Russian Patent Bureau, from upholding the decision of the Chamber for Patent Disputes until it makes its own ruling. Hearings will be held August 30. 

Zujkov has offered the U.S. retailer his rights to the Starbucks trademark for $600,000.

Starbucks, who operates more than 8,500 shops in over 30 countries is pushing it's way into the Russian coffee house market.  Russia is an untapped market for coffee houses compared to the United States and Europe.  It is rumored that U.S. reps of Starbucks have discussed partnership possibilities with Russian retail chains Rostik’s and Coffee House.