Seattle’s Best objects to Borders’ request to end agreement

New York City -- Seattle’s Best Coffee LLC, a division of Starbucks Corp., has asked a bankruptcy judge to reject Border Group’s request to end the companies’ licensing agreement.



Borders is not entitled to cancel the agreement and continue to use Seattle’s Best’s trademarks and products, the coffee company said today in a court filing. Seattle’s Best also disputed Borders’s claim that terms of the agreement are excessive.



Earlier this month. Border’s asked for permission to end the licensing agreement. The company said that operating its own cafes would reduce the company’s licensing fees, cut costs and boost profit at the sites.



Seattle’s Best had cafes in 225 of Borders’s stores that have closed in bankruptcy, Starbucks said in a regulatory filing, Bloomberg reported. Seattle’s Best is owed about $5 million in trade debt, according to a summary of Borders’s largest creditors, Bloomberg said.