This picture is the delicious cup of coffee that I enjoyed at Roasting Plant in Detroit. The coffee is called Jamaica Blue Mountain and it comes from the Blue Mountains in Jamaica, an area where the elevation, rainfall and soil make it uniquely suited to growing delicious coffee beans. The quality of beans is distinct and viewed as superior to other coffee beans.
Consumers are willing to pay a premium price for these beans, and they know that they are receiving a quality product because Jamaica has been proactive in using IP mechanisms to protect their coffee. In particular, JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN and the accompanying design are registered, in Canada, the United States and elsewhere as a certification mark. A certification mark is different from a trademark because it is designed to signal that a product displaying the certification mark meets a certain defined standard. For example, the text for the JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN certification marks read as follows:
“The use of the certification mark is intended to indicate that the specific wares listed above in association with which it is used are of the following defined standard: The certification mark, as used by persons authorized by the certifier, certifies that the coffee in respect of which the mark is used is grown in the Blue Mountain area of Jamaica by a person registered to grow coffee in that area pursuant to the Coffee Industry Regulations 1953 of Jamaica; processed or manufactured at a coffee works to which a license has been granted pursuant to the Coffee Industry Regulations 1953 of Jamaica; and in respect of which a certificate has been issued by or on behalf of the International Coffee Organisation.”
WIPO has some excellent information on how Jamaica has utilized traditional knowledge, geographical indicators and trademarks to help develop the country’s economy.
Jamaica is not the only country that has used trademark law to increase the profitability and value of their geographical assets. One downside of using certification marks and geographical indications is that a costly regulatory scheme needs to be in place to maintain the quality and that coffee beans named after a particular region can only come from that region. Ethiopia found the cost for a more extensive IP regime to be cost prohibitive in relation to their economic model for growing coffee, so their marks for HARRAR, YIRGACHIFFE and SIDAMO have been published as official marks, rather than certification marks in Canada, and owned by the government of Ethiopia.
An important feature of the certification marks regime to note is that currently, under the Canadian Trade-marks Act, a certification mark in Canada cannot be based on proposed use, but the under the forthcoming legislation, that will change.