2. Objectives
• Outline the importance of brand Jamaica to the Agriculture Value Chain
• Explore measures that have been implemented by state agencies to protect
brand Jamaica AND assess their effectiveness.
• Explore international best practices that can be modified and implemented in
Jamaica.
11. What have we done and what are we
doing to protect our country brand?
12. Jamaica’s Case
• “to protect country names against conflicting marks, business
identifiers and domain names, and prevent use of
indications consisting of or containing country names in
relation to goods or services which do not originate in the
country indicated by the country name.”
13. Entity Registered product(s) Year
Jamaica Tourist Board JAMAICA 1955 Registered trademark in
the United States
Coffee Industry Board Jamaica Blue Mountain,
Jamaica High Mountain
Supreme
1950 51 countries
JEA Four Collective Marks:
Boutique Agribusiness,
Fresh Produce, Visual Arts,
wearable Art
1966
The Competitiveness
Company
Certified: Sauces and Spices,
Scotch Bonnet Pepper,
Honey, Processed Ackees,
Generic
2005
JAMPRO Trademark: Brand Jamaica,
“To the world”,
1988
Bureau of Standards “Jamaica Made” 1969
Jamaica Business
Development
Corporation (JBDC)
“Jah Mek Yah”
JIPO 2001
14. GI PROTECTION
• “ Geographical indications are, …, indications which identify a good as
originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that
territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good
is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.” (TRIPS, 1995)
16. USA Vs. Europe
• Europe supports GI
• The U.S. supports : patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and
industrial designs
17. PARIS CONVENTION 1833
• Article 9: Seizure- All goods unlawfully bearing a trademark/trade name
shall be seized upon entry into Paris Convention countries.
• Article 10bis: Unfair Competition- constitutes any act that may create
confusion as it relates to the establishment of the goods, false allegations as
designed to discredit the goods of a competitor. ….”Indications or
allegations, the use of which in the course of trade is liable to mislead the
public as to the nature, the manufacturing process, the characteristics, the
suitability of their purpose, or the quality of the goods.
18. PARIS CONVENTION 1833
• LIMITATIONS:
• 1. Protection offered to members is limited to trademarks
• 2. Under Article 10bis, the onus is on states to prove unfair
competition, in that their competitors are trying to mislead
consumers. Even so, whatever little protection there is, it does not
extend to country brand.
• 3. Paris convention does not recognise Geographical Indications
19. PARIS CONVENTION 1833
• LIMITATIONS:
• 4. To benefit from protection, the trademark must be registered in 176
member countries.
20. MADRID SYSTEM
• The Madrid Protocol system provides for the international registration of
trade marks by way of one application that can cover more than one country.
• One time registration, grants Jurisdiction across 91 members.
• NB: Jamaica is NOT a member
25. Difference between TRIPS Article 22, 23 and
the Paris Convention
• LIMITATIONS:
• Article 23 is restricted to wines and spirits
• Article 22 like the Paris Convention requires the victim to prove unfair
competition
• Time consuming
• Expensive
27. European Approach to Brand Protection
EUROPEAN
Union
Protected
Designation of
Origin (PDO)
Protected
Geographical
Indication(PGI)
Traditional
Specialities
Guaranteed (TSG)
28. European Approach to Brand Protection
• The European Union as a regional body advocates for improved GI’s
protection globally in light of the fact that unfair competition can drive
producers out of business while misleading customers.
• As early as 1992 and as recent as 2012, the European Union through
regulation 2081/92 and 1151/2012 expanded the scope of unfair
competition, though limited to certain agricultural products, it provided
protection for produce establishing a clear link with its geographical origin.
30. GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
• PGI: Must be traditionally or partially produced in a particular geographical
location benefiting from the region’s attributes. In exceptional cases, a
country name may be used.
• PDO: Must be traditionally and entirely produced in a particular
geographical location benefiting from the region’s attributes
• TSG: Produced using raw materials or a traditional method
34. IS GI THE ANSWER TO PROTECTING
BRAND JAMAICA?
• GI PROTECTION: ‘Lentilles vertes du Puy’.
• “As a result of this protection, the production of lentils has increased from
13,600 quintals in 1990 to 34,000 quintals in 1996 and 49,776 quintals in
2002 (a rise of 273%). Meanwhile, the number of producers has almost
tripled from 395 in 1990, to 750 in 1996, and 1,079 in 2002.” (O’Connor and
Company, 2005, p. 3).
36. Vietnamese GI sauce, Nuoc Mam from Phu
Quoc
• “As a result of the GI protection granted in 2001,
the value of the product has tripled: from €0.5 per
litre in 2000 to €1.5 litre in 2003.”
39. ISSUES?
• Do we stand to benefit from GI’s?
• Why don’t we practice segmented protection? GI for EU, Trade marks for
EU AND the United States?
• Bilateral negotiations for GI protection?
• Why are we not a signatory to the Madrid protocol?
• How many of our crops qualify for PGI/PDO?
40. Where do we go from here?
• Do we continue our international campaign for reformation of the Paris
Convention? Or do we take a pragmatic approach and design policies for the
requisite markets?
• What measures do we need to implement to ensure equitable distribution of
profits across the value chain?
