Intellectual Property Rights for Geographical Indications: What is at Stake in the TTIP?

Mario Veneziani · Maria Cecilia Mancini · Filippo Arfini

Sep 2016 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

Regulations on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Geographical Indications (GIs) have a long history, leading back to two separate organizations devoted to dealing with them: the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The WTO, through its 1994 TRIPS Agreement, gives wines a high level of protection, but leaves individual countries to draw up national GIs legislation for other agri-food products. On the other hand, the WIPO implemented the Lisbon Agreement of 1958 and gives GIs a high level of protection, but involves a lower number of countries. The US approach follows the WTO and is based on existing trademarks and competition legislation, while the EU legislation is partly based on the Lisbon Agreement and has a sui generis legislation, giving a high level of protection to agri-food GIs. The two different legislative approaches on IPRs on GIs are a source of political and economic debate between the US and the EU that impact massively on agri-food supply chains, consumer relations, and environmental and cultural aspects, as well as trade.

This book provides insights into the potential impacts that the future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement could have at national, European and international level, and covers areas such as policy setting, implications for trade and consumer perception, food safety, and rural and local development. As such, it will provide a reference point for researchers and academics in agricultural and rural economics and law, as well as policy makers.

About the author

Filippo Arfini, PhD, is Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Policies at the Department of Economics of the University of Parma, Italy. His fields of research are policy assessment by means of quantitative analysis, agri-food chain management for GI products, quality economics and rural development dynamics. He is author of several publications on GIs and their implications for rural development.

Maria Cecilia Mancini, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Parma, Italy. Her research focuses on the analysis of the socio-economic effects of “quality labels” for agri-food products, localised agri-food systems in rural development dynamics, and vertical relationships along food supply chains.

Mario Veneziani, PhD, is Research Assistant at the Department of Economics of the University of Parma, Italy, where he is also Teaching Assistant for the “Economics of Agri-food Networks” and Contract Professor for the “Economics of Food Safety” lab. His scientific interests include quantitative methods for policy and market analysis, consumer behaviour, and the industrial organisation of supply chains, among others.

Michele Donati, PhD, is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biosciences of the University of Parma, Italy, where he teaches Environmental Economics. His research deals with the assessment of the effects of agro-environmental policies on farm behaviour at the EU level.