Geographical indication
A
geographical indication (sometimes abbreviated to
GI) is a name or sign used on certain products or which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (eg. a town, region, or country). The use of a GI may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.
Governments have been protecting
trade names and
trademarks used in relation to food products identified with a particular region since at least the end of the
nineteenth century, using
laws against false trade descriptions or
passing off, which generally protect against suggestions that a product has a certain origin, quality or association when it does not. In such cases the consumer protection benefit is generally considered to outweigh the limitation on competitive freedoms represented by the grant of a monopoly of use over a geographical indication.
In many countries the protection afforded to geographical indications by
law is similar to the protection afforded to trademarks, and in particular,
certification marks. Geographical indications law restricts the use of the GI for the purpose of identifying a particular type of product, unless the product or its constitute materials originate from a particular area and/or meet certain standards. Sometimes these laws also stipulate that the product must meet certain quality tests that are administered by an association that owns the exclusive right to the use of the indication. Although a GI is not strictly a type of trademark as it does not serve to exclusively identify a specific commercial enterprise, there are usually prohibitions against registration of a trademark which constitutes a geographical indication. In countries that do not specifically recognize GIs, regional trade associations may implement them in terms of certification marks.
Geographical indications are particularly important in
Europe, where there has been a long tradition of associating certain food products with particular regions. Under
European Union Law, the
protected designation of origin system which came into effect in
1992 regulates the following geographical indications:
Protected designation of origin (PDO) and
protected geographical indication (PGI) and
Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG).
The system used in
France from the early part of the
twentieth century is known as the
appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC). Items that meet geographical origin and quality standards may be endorsed with a government-issued stamp which acts as official certification of the origins and standards of the product to the consumer. Examples of products that have such 'appellations of origin' include
Tequila (spirits),
Jaffa (oranges) and
Bordeaux (wines).
The consumer-benefit purpose of the monopoly rights granted to the owner of a GI also applies to the trademark monopoly right. Geographical indications have other similarities with trademarks. For example, they must be registered in order to qualify for protection, and they must meet certain conditions in order to qualify for registration. One of the most important conditions that most governments have required before registering a name as a GI is that the name must not already be in widespread use as the generic name for a similar product. Of course, what is considered a very specific term for a well-known local specialty in one country may constitute a generic term or
genericized trademark for that type of product. For example,
parmigiano cheese in Italy is generically known as
parmesan cheese in
Australia and the
United States.
Like trademarks, geographical indications are regulated locally by each country because conditions of registration such as differences in the generic use of terms vary from country to country. This is especially true of food and beverage names which frequently use geographical terms, but it may also be true of other products such as carpets (eg. 'Shiraz'), handicrafts, flowers and perfumes.
International trade made it important to try to harmonize the different approaches and standards that governments used to register GIs. The first attempts to do so were found in the
Paris Convention on trademarks (1883), followed by a much more elaborate provision in the 1958 Lisbon Agreement on the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their Registration. Few countries joined the Lisbon agreement, however: by 1997 there were only 17 members (Algeria, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Congo, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Gabon, Haiti, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Slovakia, Togo, Tunisia). About 170 geographical indications were registered by Lisbon Agreement members
as of 1997.
In 1994, when negotiations on the
WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") were concluded, governments of all WTO member countries (148 countries
as of September 2003) had agreed to set certain basic standards for the protection of GIs in all member countries. There are, in effect, two basic obligations on WTO member governments relating to GIs in the TRIPS agreement:
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Article 22 of the TRIPS Agreement says that all governments must provide legal opportunities in their own laws for the owner of a GI registered in that country to prevent the use of marks that mislead the public as to the geographical origin of the good. This includes prevention of use of a geographical name which although literally true "falsely represents" that the product comes from somewhere else.#
Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement says that all governments must provide the owners of GI the right, under their laws, to prevent the use of a geographical indication identifying wines not originating in the place indicated by the geographical indication. This applies
even where the public is not being misled, where there is no unfair competition and where the true origin of the good is indicated or the geographical indication is accompanied by expressions such as "kind", "type", "style", "imitation" or the like. Similar protection must be given to geographical indications identifying spirits.
Article 22 of TRIPS also says that governments may refuse to register a trademark or may invalidate an existing trademark (if their legislation permits or at the request of another government) if it misleads the public as to the true origin of a good. Article 23 says governments may refuse to register or may invalidate a trademark that conflicts with a wine or sprits GI whether the trademark misleads or not.
Article 24 of TRIPS provides a number of exceptions to the protection of geographical indications that are particularly relevant for geographical indications for wines and spirits (Article 23). For example, Members are not obliged to bring a geographical indication under protection where it has become a generic term for describing the product in question. Measures to implement these provisions should not prejudice prior trademark rights that have been acquired in good faith; and, under certain circumstances — including long-established use — continued use of a geographical indication for wines or spirits may be allowed on a scale and nature as before.
In the Doha Development Round of WTO negotiations, launched in December 2002, WTO member governments are negotiating on the creation of a 'multilateral register' of geographical indications.
Some governments participating in the negotiations (especially the European Communities) wish to go further and negotiate the inclusion of GIs on products other than wines and spirits under Article 23 of TRIPS. These governments argue that extending Article 23 will increase the protection of these marks in international trade. This is a controversial proposal, however, that is opposed by other governments including the United States who question the need to extend the stronger protection of Article 23 to other products. They are concerned that Article 23 protection is greater than required, in most cases, to deliver the consumer benefit that is the fundamental objective of GIs laws.
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protected designation of origin (EU)
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TIME magazine article from August, 31 2003 on geographical indications*
WIPO page on GIs*
Geographic Indications Resource Website
