WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) – A long-running battle over the right to use European place names, like Parma or Roquefort, for some of the world’s most popular foods and beverages looks to be the toughest remaining issue in international trade talks aimed at reducing copyright and trademark theft.
The 27 nations of the European Union want the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement to cover geographical indicators, which are names for food and alcoholic products drawn from a particular location, such Champagne or Cognac, both in France.
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But U.S. business groups worry that the EU demand would mean American products as commonplace as Kraft parmesan cheese could potentially be treated as illegal items under the pact and subject to seizure by customs officials.
“Yes, that is a possible concern,” said Nefeterius McPherson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, which hosted the 10th round of talks last week on the proposed pact.
Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand and Switzerland also are taking part in the talks, which U.S. president Barack Obama has heralded as a key element of the U.S. strategy for fighting the global trade in fake goods.
Trade in such goods has been estimated at more than $200 billion US per year. U.S. movie, music, software and other copyright-based industries calculate they lose more than $16 billion in sales each year from pirated versions of their products sold around the world.
Last month, after the ninth round of ACTA negotiations, EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht complained that other countries were unwilling to include designs or geographical indicators within the scope of the pact and warned that was something the EU must have.
The EU has also pressed in the nine-year-old Doha round of world trade talks for tougher protections for geographical indicators, against stiff resistance from Washington.
The United States recognizes geographical indicators that have been trademarked, but not the full gamut of food and beverage names the EU wants to protect.
A key feature of ACTA would mandate that customs officials have “ex officio” authority to seize counterfeit goods without a request from the rights holders or a court order.
The EU wants that to apply to geographical indicators as well, creating concern among U.S. businesses that American products could be caught in an ACTA country’s customs net.
The potential for the talks to drag on worries some business groups, which hope ACTA will protect U.S. jobs and profits by improving co-operation among member countries on enforcing intellectual property rights.
