Joanne Wood, Legal Commentator

Perhaps somewhat lost amid the mayhem dominating the news recently were reports on the launch of a project of immense importance to Jamaica.

The Geographical Indications Project was launched on May 28 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI).

The stated objective is "to assist Jamaica in establishing a functional and effective system for geographical indications (GIs) in order to contribute to a better positioning of Jamaican quality products on national and international markets using distinctive signs."

Importance of GIS

I can see the eyes glazing over by this point, but please, persevere with me. What are GIs and why are they important, and why is this joint project with the Swiss necessary?

Simply put, a GI is an intellectual property right (IPR) referring to a sign used on goods that have a precise geographical origin and qualities or a reputation as a result of that place of origin. Numerous local examples that would qualify may come readily to mind: Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaican ginger, pimento, rum, jerk seasonings, to name a few.

Is it important to protect these rights? This question might meet with an indignant 'But of course!'. However, that perceived importance will no doubt be heightened in the face of certain facts, such as that presently the top selling coffee in Europe is Blue Mountain Coffee - from Kenya!

Loss of patrimony

Also, on your next visit to the supermarket, peruse the range of jerk sauces and seasonings on display, and then look more closely at where they originate. After that if you aren't already you should come away feeling quite disturbed, even angry, at the loss of our patrimony in this way.

You may rightly wonder what we have done or are doing about this.

Well, in 2004, Jamaica passed The Protection of Geographical Indications Act for this reason, though also to comply with our obligations under the Agreement of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) administered by the World Trade Organisation.

Act to protect products

The act established the legal framework for the protection of products designated as GIs under the legislative regime.

However, that still left rules to be formulated under the act thereby completing the establishment of an efficient and workable system for the protection of GIs administered by JIPO, the government agency charged with the administration of all legislation concerning IPRs.

This is where the Swiss come in. To assist in establishing a competent system of protection and enforcement, JIPO sought the technical assistance of the Swiss IPI given that country's renown for its robust advocacy and practice of protecting GIs.

The primary aim of the joint project is to identify Jamaican products to be protected and establish a GI registry, the first of its kind in the Caribbean.

Products for protection

The project also recognises the importance of identifying other Jamaican products that have the potential to be protected as GIs - one hopefully is Lucea yam - while promoting public awareness of this very important right.

The officials on both sides also foresee our assisting other Caribbean countries to develop their own GI registration systems.

You may still not be sure how all this redounds to our benefit. Critics of IP protective regimes invariably point to the requiring of developing and least-developed countries to adopt strict measures of protection that are unfairly burdensome, even inhibitive of their development.

This debate usually centres on the two most common forms of IP: patents and copyrights.

In contrast, GIs are of particular interest from a developmental angle to the nearly 150 members of the WTO who have signed on to TRIPS in that the protection of GIs is designed to prevent the misappropriating of the reputation and goodwill of specific indications often to the great economic advantage of the pirates and to the detriment of the economies from which the indications originate.

Stellar reputation

Apart from the loss of revenue, wrongful use invariably results in the tarnishing of an otherwise stellar reputation for quality, reduced prices and even loss of market share for the legitimate product. GIs will allow for:

1. A right of exclusion against unlawful users thereby entitling communities and businesses in the designated area to exclusive use of the GI;

2. An advantage of premium, the right of exclusion often attaching a correlating premium value to legitimate products;

3. Consumer and producer protection against illegitimate products making false or misleading claims as to origin or reputation.

Effective GI protection can assure and ensure the continuation of the quality and standards of our premier products by stopping illegitimate users who wish to free ride thereby diluting their reputation and value.

Joanne Wood is an attorney and intellectual property specialist at the law firm DunnCox in Kingston.