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Evans, Gail; Blakeney, Michael --- "The International Protection of Geographical Indications Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" [2007] ELECD 282; in Westkamp, Guido (ed), "Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Westkamp, Guido

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845427757

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: The International Protection of Geographical Indications Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Author(s): Evans, Gail; Blakeney, Michael

Number of pages: 57

Extract:

13. The international protection of
geographical indications yesterday,
today and tomorrow*
Gail Evans and Michael Blakeney
The future protection of geographical indications (GIs) in the World Trade
Organization (WTO) seems as intractable a problem as the agricultural nego-
tiations to which it is inevitably linked.1 During the last 20 years the interna-
tional protection of GIs has experienced a notable worldwide resurgence.
Given the ancient provenance of the modern geographical indication, it is a
matter of historical irony that the reasons for this increase may be found in a
local reaction to the industrialization and globalization of agricultural produc-
tion. The current development of the law of geographical indications has been
spurred by both the greater need and the additional opportunities offered by
the global marketplace for the diversification of agricultural products and
foodstuffs.
The industrialized model of agriculture based on the Green Revolution of
the twentieth century2 proved capable of producing prodigious food surpluses
that might feed the world, but the resulting economies of scale simply made it
uneconomical for small producers to continue to cultivate the land. As plenti-
ful supplies of commodities such as sugar and cotton in Europe and the US
threatened the incomes of their farmers and the stability of rural regions, their



* An abbreviated version of this chapter was first published in the Oxford
Journal of International Economic Law, 9(3), 2006, pp. 575­614.
1 The term `geographical indication' will be used in its widest sense, covering
indication of source, geographical indication ( ...