Brazil on how to sell someone something...

The Brazilian Intituto Nacional da Propiedad Industrial (INPI) has announced the approval of three Geographical Indications (GI) in the form of Designation of Origin (DO). On June 23, 2010 INPI received these three GIs for stones under the names: ‘Pedra Carijó-Paduana’; ‘Pedra Madeira-Paduana’; and, ‘Pedra Cinza-Paduana’. The said stones are decorative and have a specific characteristic common on the region - Northwest Fluminense, State of Rio de Janeiro. Now the administrative procedure is for the applicants to pay the fees (during the next 60 days) and thus a certificate will follow, formalizing and ending the whole procedure.

INPI informs that from the 60’s the Northwest region of Rio de Janeiro has traditionally be in the business of decorative stones, which started in the 50’s by the extraction and mining of mylonite-gneisses. Yet, the stones were marketed in their raw state and unpolished. It was not until the 90’s when they started to produce ‘lajinhas’ which are the result of using a sawmill and thus, getting smalls and polished stones.

Last month INPI granted GI protection to a different stone: ‘opalas preciosas’ (opal gem) which is a semi-precious stone used in jewellery. Today we are talking about other types of stone, used for coating landscape projects, driveways and decorative pavement.

On the same topic, last week this blog also covered GIs in Colombia and praised that this country has the highest number of DO declared in the artisanal sector (in Latin America) and this matter got me to think which other Latin America country has a vast range of GIs – I am guessing, Brazil? They have the usual agricultural raw and processed agricultural products such as: wines, beef, coffee, rice, biscuits, prawns, mangoes, grapes, melons (TBC), cheese, sweets; but they also have: pewter craft, grass craft, semi precious stones, clay pots, shoes (TBC), finished leather, and now decorative stones. Indeed, I believe that the Brazilian market (and indeed INPI) is working out how to identify and market itself with ‘something’ for someone. However, can we assert that GI should better protect foxes than hedgehogs? [ancient Greek poet Archilochus: ‘The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing’].