Territory and geographical indication

protection for whom?

Abstract

Geographical Indication (GI) can be understood as a process of identifying products or services in a given territory that have a direct or exclusive link. This sign exploits the capital of the territory inherited by historical-cultural relations that add value to the use of geographically distinct products. The aim is to analyze the systemic-hierarchical relationship of Geographical Indication policy in Brazil, the European Union, and countries outside this bloc, considering the use of territory based on territorial patrimony and historical-cultural relations. The methodology and procedures were divided into two parts: bibliographical research and secondary data searched on specialized data platforms in Brazil and the European Union (EU). The main results show that there is a real disparity between GIs in developed and underdeveloped countries. The EU alone has 3,456 GIs, including food, agricultural, and beverage products. In Brazil, the process is still recent, but already has 119 GIs for agri-food and non-agri-food products. Finally, the data shows the exploitation of the territory's cultural capital imbued with identity, symbolic, and cultural values, attesting to the GI's origin-quality binomial.