Samba, carnival...yep, you got it, we bring news from Brazil

From Brazil we looked at the number ‘57’ as a registered Geographical Indication (GI). The application came from the Instituto Bordado Filé das Lagoas de Mundaú-Manguaba (Inbordal) which is the representative of “local artisans who preserve the tradition and pass on know-how from one generation to another.” The product obtaining the GI is ‘Bordado Filé de Alagoas’, a non-agricultural product.

The Brazilian legislation does not differentiate between agricultural and non-agricultural products for the protection and registration of GIs. Yet, the legislation distinguishes between two GIs namely 1) denomination of origin (DO) and 2) indication of source (Indicação de Procedência). Another relevant issue under the Brazilian legislation is the recognition of services which is not common to see protected under GI – yet, they are not actually barred from registration e.g. PORTO DIGITAL (as an indication of source).

‘Bordado Filé de Alagoas’ is an “embroidery technique performed on a surface of woven wire.” While the technique’s origin can go back to ancient Egypt, its more recent location is found in the Iberian Peninsula. Inbordal noted that in the colony period it moved to Brazil and was consolidated and improved in the Lakes of Mundaú and Manguaba.

If you are Venezuelan...you know that
this is the best part of  'the' Carnaval

For those that study Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), the publication made by the Brazilian Instituto da Propiedade Industriale (INPI) notes that ‘Bordado Filé’ is registered as ICH for the State of Alagoas. This however does not appear on the UNESCO list of ICH. Brazil has 8 elements registered in UNESCO and you can rightly speculate that some ICH that are in this list are: SAMBA de Roda of the Recôncavo of Bahia (RL) and the performing arts of CARNIVAL of Recife (RL).

A year has passed since I examined the different GIs that exist in Brazil and I notice that from Sept 2015 to August 2016 (almost a year later) 13 more GIs have been registered. There are in total 40 Indicação de Procedência and 17 DOs.

Source INPI.