Starbucks will ban smoking in its outdoor seating areas

Starbucks customers will soon have to stamp out their cigarettes before approaching the cafes.

The Seattle-based chain says it will start banning smoking within 25 feet of its stores, beginning Saturday, where permitted by its leases.

Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Lynn Riley said the intent is to expand the indoor no-smoking policy to the outdoor seating areas.

Winfrey’s win overturned in ‘Own Your Power’ case

Oprah Winfrey’s victory in a trademark-infringement case brought against her over the phrase “Own Your Power” was overturned Friday by a federal appeals court in New York.

The district court was incorrect in finding that Winfrey’s use of the phrase in her magazine, on her website and in an event constituted fair use under trademark law, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York said Friday. The appeals judges sent the case back to the lower court.

Simone Kelly-Brown sued Winfrey and her company, Harpo Productions Inc., and her magazine publisher, Hearst Corp., claiming they violated Kelly-Brown’s trademark for “Own Your Power,” which she uses for a motivational services company. She also sued corporations including Wells Fargo, Estee Lauder, Clinique Laboratories and Chico’s FAS.

Dell directors recommend offer to take firm private

The Dell board is standing behind a buyout offer from the company’s CEO and founder, and it has asked shareholders of the slumping PC maker to approve the deal in a July 18 vote.

Dell directors unanimously recommended Friday an offer from Michael Dell and the investment firm Silver Lake Partners to take the company private for $24.4 billion, or $13.65 per share, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Smithfield’s executives set to get $85 million from sale

Smithfield Foods executives, who run one of the worst-performing large U.S. food makers over the past five years, are set to reap at least $85.4 million from its sale to China’s Shuanghui International Holdings.

The total payout is based on the stock and share options held by Smithfield’s five top executives, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the managers, Chief Executive Officer C. Larry Pope owns stock valued at $25.4 million based on the $34-per-share offer price, according a May 17 filing.

Former Mexican president supports plan for pot brand

Washington state businessmen who say they’re trying to create the first national brand of marijuana received some heartfelt support Thursday from the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox.

Fox appeared at a news conference in Seattle, where he praised Washington and Colorado for voting to legalize the recreational use of marijuana last fall.

Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively discussed his plans to launch a new pot brand named for his great-great grandfather Diego Pellicer.