Brazil: GI for a national product - bring up the cups!

The Industrial Property Journal published by the Brazilian Instituto National da Propiedade Industrial (INPI) on December 2013 informs the granting of a Geographical Indication (GI). This time around is not just any GI but actually in the form of a Denomination of Origin (DO) for a national product.

On 2010, INPI granted the first national DO to ‘Litoral Norte Gaúcho’ for rice; on 2012, the turn was for 'Vale dos Vinhedos’ for wines. Going back to today's news, the coffee producers in the Cerrado Mineiro region submitted an application on 2010 to INPI to obtain a DO for their coffee – although coffee Cerrado Mineiro already enjoyed an Indicação de Procedência (indication of source) granted by INPI in 2005.

In Brazil there are two types/forms of GIs, Indicação de Procedência and Denominação de Origem -- the latter is more valued because it shows that the product has special characteristics due to the influence of geographical environment together with natural and human factors occurring in the said geographic region.



INPI reports that “the Cerrado Mineiro region covers an area of 147,000 hectares with approximately 3,500 producers.” The region appears to have perfect seasons for the coffee production.