Non-primary indications of source: legal protection study and practical reality of use

• Grant number: 16/10728-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Private Law
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Lopes Canavez
• Grantee: Victor Luiz Pereira de Andrade
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Geographical Indication (GI) is a distinctive sign that seeks to insure the veracity of the origin of a product or service, along with valuing and protecting it against possible frauds. There are two widely recognized GI genders: Indication of Source (IS) and Appellation of Origin (AO). Brazil recognizes 53 GI, among national and foreign, in a sui generis legal arrangement protected by the Industrial Property Law. Nationally, the recognizing process for GI only intensified after 2010, something that made Brazilian researchers treat it for a long time as something that didn't deserve much interest, even with the subject's notoriety, given the occurrence of important cases such as the Mexican Tequila GI. The growing market search for the recognition of GI raises the importance of exploring the legal concepts that surround the theme of Non-Primary Indications of Source, given that its complexity and highly abstract characteristics generated legal norm gaps and wrong use of its legal institute. The recognition of GI brings prestige and reliability to the customer, while valuing and protecting producers. The economical expansion caused by GI is already studied in regional level, agreeing with the constitutional device that dictates protection to the distinctive signs of industrial property with the expressed purpose of bringing economic and technological development to the country. For that reason, this research project intends to build knowledge about Non-Primary Indications of Source, clarifying and solving the issues found in the legal devices that regulate it, while searching for legal remedy that should bring practical economic benefits as the ones sought by the legislator when this genre of protection was first established. (AU)