Quality local food products: Some aspects of trademarks law and GIs

There is little doubt that consumers today are more interested in the geographical origins of their food, andhow and by whom it was produced. Marketers capitalise on this interest through ‘provenance branding’.Provenance branding is a form of ‘credence marketing’ which suggests certain qualities to consumers that arenot really testable in an objective or empirical fashion. Provenance branding suggests that the productconcerned has certain qualities that result from its particular geographical origin. Closely connected is theconcept encapsulated in the French term ‘terroir’; unique geographical conditions that determine theparticular taste and other characteristics of locally produced food or beverages. We are very familiar with talkof terroir in the wine industry, but it is an emerging concept in relation to other foodstuffs.