ADDIS ABABA/LONDON - February 20, 2008 - Since commencing a program of trademarking Ethiopia's fine coffee designations in 2004, support for the Ethiopian sector has continued to grow worldwide. Building on its unique coffee heritage and established reputation for producing some of the finest coffee in the world Ethiopia continues to welcome new coffee roasters to its network of licensed distributors.

This month sees the addition to the network of UK based roaster Shropshire Coffee. Established in 1958, Shropshire Coffee prides itself on its record of active support for initiatives that recognize the need to fairly reward coffee growers. Their policies of supporting fairly traded coffee, community coffee farming projects and Rainforest Alliance sources have built a reputation of which owner Guiseppe D’Anna is rightfully proud.

"We have a strong belief in continuing a sustainable, just and ethical way of trading, coupled with giving our customers the best coffee the world has to offer. The Ethiopian Fine Coffee designations trademarking and licensing initiative gives us an excellent opportunity to continue with this policy whilst helping Ethiopia to protect and further develop its exceptional coffees. We at Shropshire Coffee are extremely pleased to be joining the network of licensed distributors."

Getachew Mengistie, Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office which is spearheading the effort in Ethiopia commented, "We warmly welcome Shropshire Coffee to our network. As our latest partners in the UK we look forward to working with the company to further develop awareness and appreciation of the most valuable Ethiopian Fine Coffee and satisfy the needs of its customers".

Shropshire Coffee joins nine companies in the United Kingdom who currently partner Ethiopia in their network of licensed distributors. Worldwide there are now about seventy licensed distributors of Ethiopia's Fine coffees. Ethiopia's aim to reach out to 150-200 companies involved in the specialty coffee sector looks set to take a further great step forward in May 2008, when Ethiopia will be the portrait country at the Specialty Coffee Association of America annual conference.

Contact Details:

Shropshire Coffee: Guiseppe D'Anna +44 1902 787333 www.shropshirecoffee.com
EIPO: Getachew Mengistie, Director General, EIPO +251 1 155534969, e-mail: eipo_dg@ethionet.et.
Ethiopian Embassy London: Gail Warden +44 (20) 7589-7212
For more information on Ethiopia's Trademarking and Licensing Initiative see the dedicated website: www.ethiopiancoffeenetwork.com

Light Years IP

Light Years IP

Light Years IP (LYIP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty by assisting developing country producers gain ownership of their Intellectual Property (IP) and to use the IP to increase their export income and improve the security of that income. LYIP is pioneering a Poverty Alleviating IP Solutions (PAIPS) approach to help developing world producers identify and own their IP. We believe IP offers a business strategy that can help developing countries increase income, improve the security of their income, and alleviate poverty. We assist producers, exporters, and governments in the developing world to analyze their export potential with respect to identifying the value of intangibles and then using IP tools (i.e. patents, trademarks, licenses) to secure more sustained and higher export income. The ownership of IP is secured in market countries through the existing IP legal frameworks of the developed world.

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