Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Innovation & Intellectual Property
deception; and to ensure that the industry is protected against unfair competition. 3
The Itoku-Abeokuta cluster could deploy a GI or other kind of communal trademark
to foster a collective identity and image and to promote Itoku-Abeokuta as
the home of genuine handmade tie-and-dye. A communal trademark would also
safeguard the integrity of their products – against counterfeiters who sell cheap,
non-durable products – as original Itoku-Abeokuta tie-and-dye.
If a communal trademark model is pursued, it must be appropriate to the particular
producer or manufacturer group. For the Itoku-Abeokuta textile cluster, a
GI would seem to be the most appropriate kind of communal trademark, because
of the cluster’s deployment of traditional methods of production handed down
through (mostly maternal) lineage specific to the locality. This strong localised
TK element gives the Itoku-Abeokua products a unique quality that distinguishes
them from textile products of different origins or produced by different methods.
For this cluster, a GI could solidify the pedigree generated by the longstanding
production in this locality – production which has led to positive reputation in
both local and foreign markets. In contrast to the Itoku-Abeokuta cluster, the Aba
cluster would seem well-suited to the existing legal framework of certification
marks in Nigeria (the framework which does not at present appear to protect
GI-based communal trademarks). Aba-made shoes lack a common geographical
quality, but manufacturers possess individual quality standards and creativity that
distinguish their designs – thus potentially making a non-GI certification mark
more suitable to these manufacturers (i.e. based on a strong desire to standardise
quality and distinguish their products via quality standards).
Crucially, there is a clear need for law reform in Nigeria to expand protection
to all three main communal trademark models – certification marks, collective
marks, and GIs – and to this end it is in Nigeria’s interest to ratify the Madrid
Treaty (so as to protect any Nigerian mark in regional and international markets).
As one respondent stated,
[...] when it comes to protection, we really do not have any body or institution
looking out for our interests in those foreign lands and as such, anything can
happen. The solution will be to register the products in the various international
markets for easy identification and protection. (Interviewee, 2012)
This underscores the need for Nigeria to ratify the Madrid Treaty and amend
its laws accordingly. As far as the law is concerned, the process of effecting the
necessary amendments to the Nigerian Trade Marks Act to bolster protection of
3 These incentives suggest a public interest rationale for a communal trademark, thus satisfying
the “public interest” condition specified as required for the registration of a certification mark
under the Nigerian Trade Marks Act (First Schedule, Para. 5).
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