Geographical Indications and Intellectual Property

Geographical Indications (GIs) are labels of origin that distinguish regional products in the market place. They are best conceptualised as collective trademarks with closely prescribed application criteria. This book traces the process by which GIs have become a hotly contested policy area with less-developed countries demanding support for indigenous collective traditions of production and the European Commission promoting GIs as a means to shift farming from quantity driven subsidies towards localised quality incentives. The book describes how, against this unlikely coalition, opposition comes from a group of New World agricultural exporters, including Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, supported on many occasions by the US.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the origin and rationale of the legal regimes protecting geographical indications and of the costs and benefits of extending the scope of protection. It also provides an overview of the current use of GI systems and develops an economic model of GIs as a regional incentive. It goes on to evaluate empirical case studies from supply chain, market entry and communication constraints. Finally current WTO jurisprudence is analysed.