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AO – Appellation of origin DSU – Dispute Settlement Understanding (Understanding on rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes) EC – European Communities ECJ – European Court of Justice EU – European Union FTA – Free Trade Agreement GI – Geographical indication IPR – Intellectual Property Right LHS – Left-hand side Lisbon Agreement – Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration OECD – Organization for Economic Co-operation a...

This book originated in two of my Ph.D. dissertation essays at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Many people were crucial to the successful completion of my Ph.D. thesis. First and foremost, I am grateful to my three Ph.D. thesis supervisors. Back in 2004, I asked Professor Damien Neven to be my supervisor, as his vast knowledge of competition policy was particularly suited to the issues I wanted to explore regarding geographical indications (GIs). At ...

This book seeks to contribute to an understanding of the role played by international trade law in shaping economic outcomes from a theoretical perspective. The focus is on geographical indications (GI), an intellectual property right defined in the TRIPs Agreement of the WTO. The premise is that a GI can be conceptualized as a ‘club asset’: firms that produce GI-labelled goods both add value and derive benefits from the GI. The book starts by presenting a dynamic model of GI reputation under the assumption that quality is endogenous. This is followed by a static partial equilibrium model of club optimality conditions under the assumption that quality is exogenous (defined by a standard). The author concludes by presenting a model of the welfare effects of the so called “claw-back” of GIs, when a country starts protecting a foreign GI previously considered generic.

4.1. Abstract This chapter proposes a model of the welfare effects of the protection in a country (Home) of a geographical indication (GI) of another country (Foreign), when said GI had previously held generic status at Home. In international trade jargon, the procedure is known as the claw-back of a GI. The setting includes two countries (called, for convenience, Home and Foreign), three varieties (GI-original goods produced in Foreign, and GI-variety and generic goods produced at Home), and...

3.1. Abstract In this chapter, the same model outlined in the previous chapter is developed in a static framework to determine the optimal size of the GI club, in terms of output, membership, and its optimal financing. The model considers the reputation of the GI as a localized club asset for the firm, with partial exclusion (outsiders to the GI region are excluded from its benefits) and no, or partial, rivalry in benefits among insiders. It is shown that under partial rivalry in benefits, bo...

2.1. Abstract This chapter presents a model of club reputation that incorporates the main references in the extant literature as special cases (Shapiro 1982 on individual reputation and Winfree and McCluskey 2005 on collective reputation). Reputation is assumed to be traceable through the GI label and quality is endogenously determined at the firm level, with reputation as the state variable. In contrast with previous research, it is shown that the TRIPS legal construct regulating GIs is pote...

Geographical indications (GIs) acquired global relevance in 1994 with their legal protection as an intellectual property right (IPR) in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The term GI was coined to encompass a variety of expressions already in use in other international treaties and national legislations, such as appellations of origin. The new term was given a specific definition in Article 22.1 of th...

Before joining the Graduate Institute to complete my doctoral degree, back in Chile, I worked for five years as a trade negotiator at the governmental level. I noticed then the fragile balance between economics, politics, and law, and developed early on an interest in the study of the economic impact of international trade law. Chile has a global reputation for the adoption of economic policies that are dictated by economic theory as first best policies, neutral to particular national econom...