Over time, a product made in a specific place can develop a unique reputation. This reputation is often due to special characteristics present in the place: its people, its climate and its landscape. There are thousands of examples. In the food and drinks sector there are fruits and vegetables, wines, cheeses and cured meats: Champagne; Chedder, Parma ham and Tipperary turnips. In manufacturers there are Persian carpets, Murano glass, Toledo steel and Japanese electronics. Should all these reputations be protected by law and if so how? This book "The Law of Geographical Indications" addresses these questions. The book examines what names can and cannot be protected in national and international law and the nature of the protection given. In the last years there has been a rapid expansion of the protection given to geographical indications. The book looks at the specific systems adopted in some countries and the general systems in others. Protection is most developed in Europe and specific attention is given to the rules in the European Union and the bilateral agreements the EU has forged with many third countries. The book also examines protection in international law from the 1883 Paris Convention on the protection of intellectual property in general to the more recent TRIPs Agreement in the WTO. Also examined are the two most controversial legal issues surrounding the protection of geographical indications, namely, conflicts between trademarks and geographical indications and the generic character of certain names.

There is considerable variation in the nature, scope and institutional forms of legal protection for valuable geographical brands such as Champagne, Colombian coffee and Darjeeling tea. While regional products are increasingly important for producers, consumers and policy makers, the international legal regime under the TRIPS Agreement remains unclear. Adopting a historical approach, Dev Gangjee explores the rules regulating these valuable geographical designations within international intellectual property law. He traces the emergence of geographical indications as a distinct category while investigating the key distinguishing feature of the link between regional products and their places of origin. The research addresses long-standing puzzles, such as the multiplicity of regimes operating in this area; the recognition of the link between product and place and its current articulation in the TRIPS definition; the varying scope of protection; and the extent to which geographical indications ought to be treated as a category distinct from trade marks.

For some time now, there has been conflict concerning the role in the global marketplace of certain agricultural or handcrafted products of specific geographical origin: whether they should come under trademark law (as favoured by common law countries such as the United States) or under the geographical indications (GI) system developed in France and subsequently promoted by the European Union (EU). At this moment, China is in the eye of the storm. Taking fully into account the legislative and judicial gaps in China’s compromised embrace of the GI concept, this book shows how the Chinese case brings to prominence fundamental issues relating to the functional dissimilarity between trademarks and GIs, the treatment of the terroir concept, the role of GIs in rural development, and the challenges of adopting the French and European model in other countries, especially in East Asia. Providing detailed information on how GIs are registered, protected, and managed in China, France, and the EU, the book includes such practical analysis as the following: comparison between the Chinese and European GI systems to highlight differences in essential elements for GI registration and protection; mistakes and errors arising from forcing the GI function into trademark law; the increasingly larger scope of EU GI protection, protection of collective marks containing GIs, and the extension of GI protection to handicrafts; who is responsible for the protection of each registered name and who can sue for infringement; and legislative options for future GI protection in China. Recognizing not only that GIs protect consumers against fraud and producers against unfair competition but also that the goals include the preservation of rural development, cultural heritage, and traditional knowledge, as well as environmental and ecological protection, this book provides a comprehensive reference on legal tools available for policymakers, legal practitioners, researchers, and local producers concerned with GI or trademark issues in China, France, or the EU. It will prove greatly helpful to corporate lawyers filing international registration applications and taking legal action. It will also be of inestimable value to officials in a variety of countries that are considering developing or improving systems to enhance the value of terroir products, and to academics interested in intellectual property law, trademark law, agriculture policy, GI legislation, or World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

This book addresses the relevance of geographical indication (GI) as a tool for local and socio-economic development and democratization of agri-food, with case studies from Asia, Europe and the Americas. A geographical indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. It provides not only a way for businesses to leverage the value of their geographically unique products, but also to inform and attract consumers. A highly contested topic, GI is praised as a tool for the revitalization of agricultural communities, while also criticized for being an instrument exploited by global corporate forces to promote their interests. There are concerns that the promotion of GI may hamper the establishment of democratic forms of development. The contributing authors address this topic by offering theoretically informed investigations of GI from around the world. The book includes case studies ranging from green tea in Japan, olive oil in Turkey and dried fish in Norway, to French wine and Mexican Mezcal. It also places GI in the broader context of the evolution and trends of agri-food under neoliberal globalization. The book will be of interest to researchers, policy makers and students in agri-food studies, sociology of food and agriculture, geography, agricultural and rural economics, environmental and intellectual property law, and social development.

The present book examines both theoretical and practical aspects of the law on indications of geographical origin (IGOs) within the framework of European Union (EU) law, pursuing four distinct yet mutually related aims. First, it discusses theoretical issues of the law on IGOs including its historical foundations, terminology, principles of regulation, legal subjectivity, protection models and loss of protection. Second, it covers the EU law on IGOs from a systematic point of view. Particularly, the systematic review of the EU law on IGOs includes an in-depth analysis of and commentary on the relevant and applicable regulations. Third, it examines current legislative initiatives and further development options for the EU law on IGOs. Finally, it reveals the interrelation of the EU law on one hand and the national laws of EU Member States on the other with regard to IGOs, focusing on harmonized and non-harmonized areas of law.

In this thoroughly revised and updated third edition, Michael Blakeney investigates the European laws which regulate the use of geographical indications (GIs) in the marketing of agricultural products, food, wines and spirits, and cultural products such as handicrafts. Key updates include new material exploring the 2023 Regulation on GIs for craft and industrial products, and the protection of wine GIs under the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets (CMO).

The TRIPS Agreement (for trade-related intellectual property rights) provides for the general protection of geographical indications (GIs) of product origin, including for example the special protection of wines and spirits and for the creation of a multilateral register for wines. The African Group of countries has been in the forefront of countries agitating in the World Trade Organization TRIPS Council for the extension of this special protection and of the multilateral register to industries which are of interest to developing countries, primarily agriculture. The so-called "extension question" is the central feature of the Doha Development Agenda at both the WTO and World Intellectual Property Organization. This book provides some empirical evidence and applied legal and economic reasoning to this debate. It provides both a general review of the key issues and a series of case studies from six Anglophone and four Francophone countries in Africa. These focus on major agricultural commodities such as coffee, cotton, cocoa and tea, as well as more specific and local products such as Argan oil and Oku white honey.

Regulations on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Geographical Indications (GIs) have a long history, leading back to two separate organizations devoted to dealing with them: the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The WTO, through its 1994 TRIPS Agreement, gives wines a high level of protection, but leaves individual countries to draw up national GIs legislation for other agri-food products. On the other hand, the WIPO implemented the Lisbon Agreement of 1958 and gives GIs a high level of protection, but involves a lower number of countries. The US approach follows the WTO and is based on existing trademarks and competition legislation, while the EU legislation is partly based on the Lisbon Agreement and has a sui generis legislation, giving a high level of protection to agri-food GIs. The two different legislative approaches on IPRs on GIs are a source of political and economic debate between the US and the EU that impact massively on agri-food supply chains, consumer relations, and environmental and cultural aspects, as well as trade. This book provides insights into the potential impacts that the future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement could have at national, European and international level, and covers areas such as policy setting, implications for trade and consumer perception, food safety, and rural and local development. As such, it will provide a reference point for researchers and academics in agricultural and rural economics and law, as well as policy makers.

The Lisbon System facilitates the international protection of appellations of origin through one single registration procedure. The Lisbon system does away with the need to file multiple registrations at different offices and covers over two dozen countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

What makes Darjeeling tea, Pashmina shawl, Monsooned Malabar Arabica coffee and Chanderi saree special? Why is it that some goods derive their uniqueness through their inherent linkage to a place? In a pioneering study, this book explores this intriguing question in the Indian context across 199 registered goods with geographical indications, linked with their place of origin. It argues that the origin of these goods is attributed to a distinctive ecology that brews in a particular place. The attributes of their origin further endorse their unique geographical indications through legal channels. Drawing from a variety of disciplines including geography, history, sociology, handicrafts, paintings, and textiles, the author also examines the Geographical Indications Act of 1999, and shows how it has created a scope to identify, register and protect those goods, be they natural, agricultural, or manufactured. The work presents a new perspective on the indigenous diversities and offers an original understanding of the geography and history of India. Lucid and accessible, with several illustrative maps, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers in the social sciences, environmental studies, development studies, law, trade and history.