Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee
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Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee (Spanish: Juan Valdez bebe café de Costa Rica) is slogan, implying that Juan Valdez, a fictional character created by the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (Fedcafé), drinks coffee from Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, the slogan is popular on bumper stickers.[1] The slogan prompted a lawsuit for the first time in 2006, when Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia sued Café Britt following a t-shirt dispute.
[edit] History
The origins of the slogan are unclear. Juan Valdez has appeared in advertisements for Columbian coffee since 1959. Jaime Daremblum, then-Costa Rican ambassador to the United States, used the phrase in a 1999 speech.[2]
In 2000, the phrase was used in the title of a Harvard doctoral thesis.[3]
[edit] Legal disputes
In 2006, The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia recieved an injusted preventing Costa Rica company Café Britt from selling t-shirts wih the slogan. The Federation then filed a $1 million lawsuit on July 7, 2006[4] after Café Britt refused to sign a contract, stating that it must must respect the intellectual property of Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia and refrain from using either tha name or image of Juan Valdez. Café Britt filed a $200,000 counter-suit, after producing an affidavit from a Costa Rican man, Juan Valdez, certifying that he does drink Costa Rican coffee. Café Britt also argued that the phrase is so common as to be ineligable for legal proteciton.[5][6]
Fedcafé maintains that Café Britt agreed in early 2006 to stop using its trademarks;[2] Pablo Vargas, the manager of Café Britt denies that such an agreement existed.[7]
The "other" Juan Valdez was discovered as early as 1999.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Costa Rice Tourism and Travel Burea. 2006, February 24. "Costa Rica General Information."
- ^ a b A.M. Costa Rica. 2006, May 11. "Columbians finally reject Juan Valdez joke." Vol. 6. No. 93.
- ^ A Smith-Francis. 2000. "Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee: Niche Creation and Marketting of Sustainably Grown Coffee in Costa Rica."
- ^ VolCafe Specialty Coffee. 2006, July 7. "Columbian Fedcafe files lawsuit against Costa Rican roaster."
- ^ Costa Rican Vacations, UK. 2006, Novebmer. "Coffee Character Chaos."
- ^ Schmidt, Blake. 2006, November 18. "Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican Coffee." Tico Times.
- ^ (Spanish) Nacion. 2006, May 11. "Cafeteros colombianos y Britt se enfrentan por 'Juan Valdez'."
- ^ Van Wik, Anika. 1999, December 22. "Colourful Costa Rican Poas Volcano is just one of the spectacular sights in this Central American country." Calgary Sun.
