The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) recently released its annual Special 301 Report on the state of intellectual property (IP) rights around the world and this year's report outlined the Trump administration’s commitment to curtailing the damaging abuses of geographical indications (GIs), particularly by the European Union. The report highlighted the EU’s aggressive agenda regarding GIs as a major concern for the United States, “especially because of the significant extent to which it undermines the scope of trademarks and other IP rights held by U.S. producers, and imposes barriers on market access for American-made goods and services that rely on the use of common names, such as parmesan or feta.”
The report emphasized the negative impact that the EU agenda has on American companies and traders that export $4 million worth of cheese to the EU each year. By comparison, the EU sends nearly $1 billion in cheese to the United States each year.
The Consortium for Common Food Names, of which IDFA is a founding member, today applauded the strong wording in the report and called on the U.S. government to hold trading partners accountable when it comes to respecting generic names.
According to the report, most U.S. cheesemakers either are blocked from EU markets or must sell their products with names such as parmesan-like, gorgonzola-kind, asiago-style or imitation feta, which USTR said “is costly, unnecessary and can reduce consumer demand for the non-EU products.”
Additionally, the report said the EU’s promotion of its GI agenda through bilateral agreements with countries is a threat to U.S. and other cheesemakers around the world, specifically in these 19 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam.
To ensure equal market access for U.S. producers of common foods, USTR outlined five goals for revising how GI protections are established:
- Ensure that a grant of GI protection does not violate prior rights;
- Ensure that a grant of GI protection does not deprive interested parties of the ability to use common food names;
- Ensure that interested persons have notice of, and opportunity to oppose or to seek cancellation of, any GI protection that is sought or granted;
- Ensure that notices issued when granting a GI consisting of compound terms identify its common name components; and
- Oppose efforts to extend the protection given to GIs for wines and spirits to other products.
Canada Moves to Priority Watch List
This year, the USTR moved Canada from the Watch List to the Priority Watch List, a group of trading partners the USTR said present “the most significant concerns this year regarding inadequate or ineffective IP protection or enforcement.”
USTR moved Canada because it entered into the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement with the European Union and its member states. The United States claims the bilateral agreement lacks adequate transparency and due process regarding the protection of GIs.
USTR also expressed concerns about Canada’s weak border enforcement and lack of customs authority to inspect goods shipped thought to be counterfeit that were shipped through Canada.
View the report and USTR’s press release.
Members with questions may contact Beth Hughes, IDFA director of international affairs, at bhughes@idfa.org.