RU – Starbucks in Moscow

Starbucks opened its first coffee shop in Russia yesterday, two years after it won a legal battle to protect the right to its brand in the fast-growing Russian market.

The newest Starbucks in the worldwide chain of about 10,000 outlets is in the Mega shopping mall in Khimki, just north of Moscow.

Starbucks plans a second store in Russia on Moscow’s historic Stary Arbat street before the end of the year.

In 2005, the Seattle company won a trademark fight over the Starbucks name. A “squatter” had registered the right to use the name in Russia and was asking $600,000 from Starbucks to relinquish it.

The company successfully proved in Russian courts that it was the rightful owner of the name.

Alyona Mikhailova, 34, placed Russia’s first official Starbucks order, for a venti, or medium, cappuccino.