The Comparative Advantages of Geographical Indications and Community Trade Marks for the Marketing of Agricultural Products

Abstract

The first European framework for the registration of geographical indications and designations of origin was created in 1992. 1 A feature of Community policy on agriculture and product quality, 2 Regulation (EEC) No. 2081/92 was enacted with the twofold objective of increasing the quality of products and promoting the diversification of production, so as better to balance supply and demand, improve the incomes of farmers and benefit rural areas. 3 While recent empirical studies suggest that the protection of geographical indications (GIs) for specialty agricultural products can potentially benefit the rural economy, 4 the system remains relatively under-utilized by the majority of countries. 5 Therefore in 2006, against a background of growing global competition for agricultural commodities and value-added products, the European Commission announced a policy review of the Community system for the protection of GIs. 6 One of the chief topics identified for review was the use of the trade mark system as an alternative instrument for the protection of GIs. 7 Subsequently, in the �Green Paper on Agricultural Product Quality� of 2008 and the �Impact Assessment Report on Agricultural Product Quality Policy� of 2009, the Commission affirmed the value of identifying the complementarities between the trade mark and GI systems. 8Just as well-known geographical indications, such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Cafe de Colombia, are registered under both the GI and Community Trade Mark (CTM) systems, 9 an appreciation of the mutually supporting roles of both forms of intellectual property can assist agricultural enterprise to achieve the consumer recognition necessary to the creation of reputation based on geographical origin. Nevertheless, dual protection is a strategy that is by no means widely adopted by producer groups. In fact, filing statistics for the GI system reveal a pronounced discrepancy in the number of registrations filed by country of origin. �