ECTA 2019: DNA testing pork and ‘fingerprinting’ cheese
The uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the advantages of geographical indications (GIs) protection and new technology being used to identify premium products were the topics during a session at the 38 th Annual European Communities Trade Mark Association Conference.
Addressing the audience on Friday, June 28, Simon Crabbe, head of GIs at DEFRA, discussed the UK’s imminent departure from the EU and the implications for GI protections. He said that when Brexit does happen, the UK will implement its own system, adopting much of the EU rules for GIs.
He said there will be a “very similar application process and clear criteria to judge GIs as well as the publication of potential GIs for opposition”.
The most significant difference between the new UK register and that of the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), is that in the UK the national and international objections will happen under the same system.
Crabbe said one of the key challenges surrounding the new system will be inspiring confidence in countries across the world that it is a “sound and robust scheme”.
“GIs are a premium product which are susceptible to imitation, so we need to make sure our GIS are protected well,” he said. He added that one way the UK plans to support the integrity of the scheme is using science and laboratory-based disciplines.
He gave the example of one type of GI-protected pork, which comes from Gloucestershire old spots pigs. As the pork is known to be of very high quality, common versions of the meat are often passed off as the premium product.
Using a new technique, experts can now counteract this by analysing the DNA of the meat.
“We compare the DNA analysis against a reference library of a wide variety of breeds of pig and see whether the meat has actually come from the Gloucestershire old spots pig,” Crabbe explained.
Additionally, experts have also been exploring methods of differentiating between real and counterfeit Stilton cheese using “next generation sequencing”.
This method extracts and extracts the DNA from a piece of Stilton. This is then analysed to get a “fingerprint” of the microbial communities present in the cheese. As different forms of cheese have different microbial communities, this makes it easy to differentiate between the types.
Automatic protection?
Dev Gangjee, a member of the ECTA GI committee and associate professor at Oxford University, UK said there were “unresolved questions” surrounding the proposed new GI system.
For example, as it stands there is currently automatic protection for UK GIs in the EU system. But he said the UK will have to decide whether to EU GIs currently protected in the EU alone, and whether they will need to reapply for protection in the UK.
In the scenario that the UK leaves the EU with a deal, it will likely “be generous to EU GIs in the UK,” Gangjee said. He added: “They would simply drop into our local system without any re-examination, giving them the same level of protection as they have in the EU.”
Additionally, Gangjee said that if EU GIs are required to reapply in the UK, this would trigger oppositions, so GIs that are already protected would need to be defended again.
Another issue the UK will face is whether it implements the strict rules of the EU. For example, in the US, Feta is not recognised as a GI and therefore, multiple versions of the cheese exist.
“We would need to decide: should Feta be generic, despite it being protected as a Greek GI in the UK for many years? Would the US want to export its generic Feta to the UK?” Gangjee asked.
Tequila shot
One organisation which currently owns a GI in Europe but would potentially need to re-apply for protection in the UK is the Europe Tequila Regulatory Council (TRC).
Fernando Cano Treviño, the chief representative officer at TRC said: “Our GI protection is about taking care of traditions and protecting something which takes tremendous hard work to produce.”
One example is the council’s ongoing dispute against Heineken over its Desperados beer.
The council disputes that the beer, which uses the word Tequila on its labelling, does not contain the spirit, but rather “flavours” of which 75% is tequila.
Since the case began in 2017, the TRC has gained GI protection for Tequila in the EU in March this year.
“We want to teach consumers in Europe what Tequila is. You cannot use ‘flavoured with tequila’ in your label, it’s very confusing and very deceptive,” he said.
An instrument for rural development
Francis Fay, who is head of the unit responsible for geographical indications in DG Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, touched on one of the lesser-known advantages of GIs: how the protection benefits those in the poorest areas of the world.
One huge advantage of GIs is that they are a major step in “the empowerment of producers” of the protected products, he said.
Fay described GIs as “rural development instruments”—because the product and its IP is uniquely anchored to the territory of a GI, adding economic value to that place.
This particularly benefits women in agricultural labour across the world.
“The main agricultural labour force across the world is women. One new exciting area for us is looking at using GI activities and production where women are at the fore, and using GIs to secure economic value for them,” he explained.
For example, under customary law, the trees of the shea nut belong to the women of the village where the trees grow.
“By adding GI protection to shea products, you have an instrument for marvellous economic development,” he said.
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