Starbucks lost the right to the brand after a Moscow lawyer who specializes in claiming unused trademarks succeeded in winning the rights to itStarbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop chain, will open its first cafe in Russia next month after a decade of delays that included losing trademark rights.The first shop will open in September in the Mega Mall north of Moscow, Starbucks spokeswoman Kate Bovey said Thursday by phone from Seattle. Starbucks joins retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA in seeking to enter Russia, where consumer spending rose 24 percent last year, the most in Europe. Russians are expected to spend $12.5 billion eating out in 2009, after annual increases of more than 7 percent, according to OAO Rosinter Restaurants Holding, which operates T.G.I. Friday's and Benihana eateries. "Russia is hugely important as a region; it's a primary market for us," Carol Pucik, spokeswoman for Starbucks, said by phone Friday from Amsterdam. "It gives a lot of opportunities. It has a large population, a coffee-drinking culture." Starbucks first registered its trademark in Russia in 1997, the year before the government defaulted on $40 billion of domestic debt and devalued the ruble, wiping out the life savings of millions of people overnight. Five years later, Starbucks lost the right to the brand after a Moscow lawyer who specializes in claiming unused trademarks succeeded in winning the rights to it from the state patents chamber. That ruling was overturned last year, after two years of litigation, said Evgeny Arievich, a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie LLP in Moscow who represented Starbucks. The Mega Mall store will make Russia the 43rd country in which Starbucks operates, Bovey said. The company recently opened stores in Brazil and Egypt and plans to enter India. Starbucks' local partner in Russia is M.H. Alshaya Co., a Kuwaiti retailer that operates cafes in 10 countries outside its domestic market, Bovey said.
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