One of my favourite guilty pleasures is watching The Apprentice. There is something immensely satisfying about watching a group of self-proclaimed ‘business geniuses’ fail so badly week after week. Of course, I would not do any better if I were on the show, but from the comfort of my sofa, I can at least pretend I would as I shout at the contestants during their tasks.

Last week, the newest series of The Apprentice began, and it did not disappoint. The contestants are even more unbearable, Lord Sugar’s ‘jokes’ are just as funny as they always are (not very), and the aides Tim and Baroness Brady are providing more iconic reaction faces.

“But what does this have to do with Intellectual Property?”, I hear you ask.

Well, quite a bit, actually. Most tasks that the contestants undertake each week have some relation or connection to IP, and in this new series of blog posts, I will be exploring them.

Twenty Years

This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Apprentice being part of British TV culture, and the BBC have marked the occasion by allowing twenty candidates to compete this year.

Twenty years is a long time.

In fact, twenty years is the standard [1] length for the term of a granted patent! (See, I told you there was an IP connection, however tenuous).

The length of the term for a granted patent is calculated from when the original application was filed, rather than when it was granted. Therefore, a patent which was filed in 2006 would expire this year.

The First Task

For the first task of the very special twentieth anniversary series, the contestants were sent to Hong Kong, where they had to locate and buy nine items. This is a classic Apprentice task, and typically, the items that the contestants need to purchase have a tie to the geographical location they are in. For this task, they had to buy: shrimp paste, a mahjong set (hand-painted), baby corn, a Chinese calligraphy brush, a dragon boat head, a golden pineapple, an erhu, a ding ding illustration (painted today) and a teacake.

To say the episode was chaotic would be an understatement. Most of the contestants either couldn’t read a map or refused to use a map. Many a person spent most of the trip running around like a headless chicken.

Whilst the contestants had a breakdown over their lack of geography skills (I guess no one had orienteering listed as a skill on their CV), I was thinking about IP. In particular, geographical indicators (GIs).

A GI is a sign assigned to a good that has a specific geographic origin. Typically, the good has either a quality, reputation or other characteristic attributed to it that is dependent upon its geographic origin. For example, a very well-known product that has a GI is Champagne. Only sparkling wine which is made and produced exclusively in the Champagne region of France can be called Champagne. Another example is Scotch (whisky), which is whisky that has been matured and distilled in Scotland.

Key Facts on Geographical Indicators

The protection system for GIs vary from country to country. There are some international provisions for GIs in international IP agreements such as the Madrid system. For many countries, GIs are protected through either a sui generis system, through trade mark laws or through laws relating to unfair competition. For countries where a sui generis system applies, the GIs are considered as their own right separate from other types of IP (such as trade marks).

Whilst in some countries and jurisdictions GIs can be protected through trade mark law, they are not the same. The main difference is that a trade mark (TM) identifies goods and/or services originating from a particular company, whereas GIs consist of the name of the place of origin of the goods. Furthermore, unlike a TM, which can be assigned or licensed, a GI cannot be. Finally, a GI is not an exclusive right to just one person or company; the GI can be used by all persons in the area of origin that produce the good according to a specific method of production. In other words, every sparkling wine maker in Champagne, France, can use the name Champagne, provided they follow the specific methods and processes for making it [2]. However, TMs can only be used by their owner or a person authorised by the owner to do so.

There is a subcategory of GIs known as Appellation of Origin (AO). An AO requires a much stronger connection between the characteristic or quality of the goods and the geographical environment. In short, an AO requires: raw materials sourced in the geographical environment and that the processing the materials occurs in the same geographical location as where the materials were sourced. For example, Roquefort cheese qualifies for an AO [3].

Next Time

Next week the contestants have to create a children’s story and audiobook, so more IP to come!

 

[1] Note: this is the standard length. In some jurisdictions or for certain subject matter, patent term adjustments may be available. For example, in the UK, for medicinal products, a supplementary protection certificate may be given to extend the term by an additional five years to account for time where the medicinal product is being compliance and safety tested before entering the market.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort

 

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