Chapter 11 The Transforming Face of Terroir

Unde Venis Geographical Indications?

In: Intellectual Property and the Law of Nations, 1860-1920
Authors:
Devanshi Saxena
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Esther van Zimmeren
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Abstract

The law on Geographical Indications (‘GI’) has traversed more than a century and has evolved drastically during this period. The journey from its French roots in the law against fraud and adulteration in the sale of origin-linked goods (1905) to the Lisbon agreement, (1958) to the TRIPS Agreement, (1994) has been transformative. At the European level, GI law has been influenced by developments in the area of the common internal market and then, has conceded to the harmonizing objectives of international trade law. The impact of this harmonization can be felt not only in the legislations of European Union (EU) member states but also in terms of the governance of GI s in the member states. At the international level, the struggle between the Old World and New World countries influenced the TRIPS definitions of GI s and afterwards also impacted the laws that were created/modified in WTO member countries to implement TRIPS. The TRIPS minimum standards for GI s are a mere shadow of the requirements for the link between product and terroir, that existed under 20th century French law. These observations trigger several essential questions. When and why was the link between the product and the origin (both human and environmental) diluted? Is the rationale for protecting origin-linked products as intellectual property the same in 1905, in 1958, in 1994 and in 2020? Did GI s always have the expectations of bringing about (sustainable) development that they carry on their shoulders today? We present the history of GI law in the nineteenth and early twentieth century as the core of this contribution and the starting point for our analysis of the influences that led to its transformation. Our descriptive historical analysis in Section 2 and our reflections in the later sections of this Chapter are guided by these questions.

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