What is the geography of Geographical Indications? Place, production methods and Protected Food Names

Abstract

Copyright, patents and trademarks are well-known types of Intellectual Property (IP). However, there is another form of IP known as Geographical Indications (GIs). Foods, drinks and agricultural products can be certified as GIs. The quality of each GI is considered to exclusively or significantly derive from the supposedly unique physical attributes of the defined and bounded locations from which they originate. The use of GIs discriminates between producers who are categorised as in-place or out-of-place. This determines the firms that are permitted to invoke economically valuable geographical names. Producers of GIs rely on notions of place, boundaries and terroir to validate their claims to GI status. These are intrinsically geographical factors with which our discipline has long engaged. However, the GI system itself has rarely been studied from a geographical perspective. This paper interrogates the constructions of place, boundaries and terroir common to the conceptual infrastructure of all GIs. It employs Stilton Cheese -one of Britain's most iconic territorial foods -to illustrate these ideas. The Stilton case also shows that taken-for-granted ideas of place and production methods can be challenged by motivated adversaries who introduce new evidence in their quest to destabilise this GI. The overall aim of this work is to draw attention to the geographical infrastructure of this expanding regulatory system and more fully reveal the interests served by the GI model.

PDO as a Mechanism for Reterritorialisation and Agri-Food Governance: A Comparative Analysis of Cheese Products in the UK and Switzerland

“…The West Country Farmhouse Cheddar PDO was applied for, similar to Le Gruyère, to help in this case 18 traditional producers in south west England to protect and differentiate their artisan cheese making methods from mass produced brands. In all four cases the PDO was therefore applied for and used as it was intended: i.e., to protect and provide copyright to traditional quality food production methods [1] and to allow continued production of threatened products. The way the PDO is implemented as a mode of governance is interesting to compare, especially experiences in Switzerland and the UK, including the way the supply chain is organised and governed for each cheese and the impact this has in terms of pricing, market access, and communication.…”

“…Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)-also referred to as Geographical Indications (GIs)-are credited with generating significant economic value at an EU-level, especially in certain countries [1]. They can also help to deliver territorial rural development policy and develop new food markets.…”

“…The number of PDO and PGI designations has increased steadily, from 450 in 2000 to 760 in 2008, 970 by 2011, and 1196 by March 2014 [1,11]. Table 1 summarises the number of designations at an EU scale and for the 27 individual member states.…”

Protected geographical indications: Institutional roles in food systems governance and rural development

“…The ways in which certification actually achieves competitive advantage, i.e. whether the product can command a higher price associated with heightened consumer confidence in the product's uniqueness and quality is also subject to a complex range of variables and context-specific circumstances and conditions; these include the geographical attributes attaching to the product in terms of its origin, production and preparation processes, and the defined geographical area in which these must occur (Rippon, 2014).…”

Tüketicilerin Coğrafi İşaretli Ürün Algısı Ve Daha Fazla Fiyat Ödeme İsteği: Yapısal Eşitlik Modellemesi Yaklaşımı

“…AB standartlarında sadece tarımsal ürünler Cİ ile korunabilirken, Türkiye'de doğal ürünler, tarım, maden ve el sanatları ile sanayi ürünleri de Cİ ile korunabilecek ürünler kapsamında değerlendirilmektedir (Dimara ve Skuras, 2003). Diğer bir yandan, Rippon (2014) Cİ'yi telif hakları, patentler ve ticari markalara kıyasla daha az bilinen bir sınai mülkiyet hakkı olarak tanımlarken, Menapace ve Moschini (2012) Cİ'yi ürünün ait olduğu bölgenin isminin kullanılmasını esas alan bir markalama şekli olarak ifade etmiştir.…”