Row brewing over Starbucks name
In Nanjing East Road, one of Shanghai's busiest shopping streets, customers sip coffee and munch biscuits in Starbucks.
What they do not know is that the shop they are in does not belong to the giant Starbucks of Seattle, with 6,500 outlets around the world, including 30 in Shanghai.
This shop belongs to a firm named Shanghai Starbucks Coffee House Company Limited (SSCHCL) that was established in 2000 by a Hong Kong businessman who registered the Chinese trademark 'Xing Ba Ke', before President Foods of Taiwan, which is the agent in Shanghai for the Seattle group.
The Hong Kong firm has opened two outlets in Shanghai, one in 2000 in a tennis centre in the Hongqiao district, and the second, in Nanjing East Road, on July 27 this year. The two outlets use the same green and black logo as the main firm.
Because SSCHCL registered the trademark first, the outlets of the main firm in Shanghai carry only the name Starbucks in English, not Chinese, which means that those who do not read English are unaware that it is a coffee shop.
Industry sources said the Hongqiao shop turned a profit within two months, the second would go into the black soon after opening and that the company planned to open 30 to 50 outlets within the next two years, because of the popularity of coffee shops in Shanghai. It has refused offers from President Foods to buy its outlets, they said.
A spokesman for President Foods said that it had referred the issue to Starbucks' headquarters in the United States.
