Guyana moves to reclaim “Demerara”
Guyana has begun taking steps to register the name, Demerara, as a Geographical Indicator (GI), even as several other countries continue to brand their sugar with that name.
The announcement was made by Lead Legal Expert, Bernard O’Connor at the opening of a two-day workshop on “Enhancing market access and promoting certification for quality origin products in Guyana.”
“Over the last week or so, three applications have been submitted to the Commercial Register for the registration of Geographical Indicators in Guyana,” he said. The products are Demerara Sugar, Demerara Molasses and Demerara Rum.
Mauritius, Fiji, United Kingdom and the United States continue to use the name “Demerara” in the packaging and sale of sugar, while Guyana over the years has maintained that the process for developing the sugar crystals is unique to this country and originally began in Demerara.
Lead Legal Expert, Bernard O’Connor addressing the opening of the conference.
Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuco), Errol Hanoman said he is very optimistic with the move to shift from a GI rather than a trademark while wary of likely objections. “Obviously it is going to be something that we will have to build on but obviously it will have implications for our marketing…We just doing this and becoming a GI and sitting on our laurels is not going to work. The marketing functioning has got to get out there and exploit this development,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.
O’Connor later told Demerara Waves Online News that even with the domestic registration of Demerara-branded products as GIs, “it is possible that other interested parties might come in and make an objection.” “I don’t think they have much grounds for making such an objection but they might do so…I think that both history and right are on the side of Guyana and I think also that there is much in the law that is on the side of Guyana so it is a process that we have to go through and going through any process the outcome is always uncertain but there are many forces and elements which Guyana has which indicates that Guyana can come through and get protection on this matter,” he said. .
O’Connor said the next step for the long-term protection of Demerara for Guyana’s benefit is the conducting of detailed administrative procedure with a lot of “checks and balances.” “We can expect that as the application goes forward, there will be ups and down and there will be hiccups but the dance has started if you like and there is a quantum difference from where we were yesterday to where we are today because now we have entered into formal procedures and formal consequences which can only in the longer term be to the benefit of Guyana,” he said.
The Legal Expert said while the GI applications for the three products are being processed, wider negotiations between the Caribbean Forum of the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) group and the European Union are underway for the two sides to recognise each other’s GIs. “It might have, I suppose, had been better if we had finished our homework in Guyana before we started negotiations with the European Union but that’s not the way it is,” he said, adding that there would be no roadblock in handling the two sides.
O’Connor observed that Guyana’s law allows for GI protection without registration, although registration allows the Indicator to benefit from a range of advantages. The Legal Consultant said rice is the “most obvious and the biggest” product that can benefit from GI registration.
With GI protection being guaranteed in the Caribbean-Europe Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) if they are firstly protected in individual countries, Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge hopes that his country will soon register higher export earnings for products bearing the name Demerara. He cautioned against just merely registering GI, but engage in aggressive awareness and marketing. “That framework is important because the GI status alone will not automatically guarantee either increased demand or the penetration of external markets. Protection without effective marketing will not lead to increased sales at exports,” said Greenidge, a former Caribbean Community trade negotiator and ACP Deputy Secretary General.
The Foreign Minister said that with GI comes the possibility of diversifying products, improving and sustaining standards and ensuring that Commercial Registries function effectively to handle GI.
Guyana passed GI legislation in 2005 and regulations were approved in 2008. The local law is largely compliant with the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-related aspect of Intellectual Property Rights System.
In 1913, a United Kingdom High Court had ruled that the “Demerara” was generic and that a retailer who was selling Demerara from Mauritius was not deceiving the consumer but, according to O’Connor, the world is moving away from generic to specialized products.
Stakeholders at the GI Conference (GINA photo)
The products for which GI applications have been made (GINA photo)
The Commercial Registry here has received three applications for the registration of the name Demerara as a Geographical Indication (GI), GINA said.
The three applications are for Demerara Sugar, Demerara Molasses and Demerara Rum. Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge said that recapturing the name provides opportunities for producers to obtain market recognition.
“GI protection for those products means that a given name, Demerara, can only be used for products made or originating in Guyana and if production is moved out of Guyana they will no longer enjoy that domain feature,” Greenidge stated at the opening of the GI Conference at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston, yesterday.
GINA said that the two-day conference, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is being held under the theme “Enhancing market access and promoting certification for quality origin products in Guyana.”
According to GINA, the project is being funded by the European Union (EU) through the ACP-EU TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) Programme. The conference seeks to establish the foundations for the development of the legal protection of geographical traditional names for quality products from Guyana.
Greenidge stated that Article 145 of the EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) makes provision for the protection for geographical indications however; products must first be protected in its own country.
The Minister noted that Guyana currently is not benefiting from this provision since there are no registered GIs locally.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge giving the feature address at the opening of the conference. At the head table from left are Lead Expert on the project, Bernard O’Connor, CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary-General for Trade and Economic Integration, Joseph Cox and EU Delegation’s Adam Wisniewski.
“Geographical Indications are now therefore developing quite fast they represent an important instrument for trade, rural development, protection of knowhow and tradition as well as products promotion and tourism,” GINA quoted Greenidge as sayingMeanwhile, CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary General for Trade and Economic Integration, Joseph Cox noted that GIs are essential to enabling Caribbean countries to compete on international markets. Cox noted that there are already products within CARICOM that show the need for legal protection of these products.
Guyana’s move to acquire the legal right to the Demerara name prevents the usurpation of the value of the products. “The work here in Guyana will therefore give significant impetus to our progress across the region with the application for three Geographical Indications,” Cox stated.
Governments here have been criticised for not taking decisive steps to have Demerara, which has been associated for decades with sugar here, recognised as a geographical indication under the World Trade Organisation framework.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) which was present at yesterday’s conference has lost several legal battles overseas in relation to the usage of Demerara to describe its sugar.
In March last year GuySuCo’s ongoing legal woes with Bedessee Imports Ltd came to an end as it was found that the latter was legally entitled to use the mark of Demerara Gold on its products in North America.
A statement on GuySuCo’s website had said then “Going forward, it is expected that Bedessee will continue to use the mark on cane sugar products within Canada, Mexico and the United States, whereas GuySuCo will continue to use the mark elsewhere in the world.”
The state-owned corporation said it is “satisfied” with the outcome stating that Bedessee was the first to use the mark Demerara Gold on cane sugar products in Canada and the United States.
The announcement by GuySuCo was made quietly with the corporation posting a brief statement on its website’s media page.
Bedessee and GuySuCo had been at odds since 2010 when the former sued the latter and the Government of Guyana over the trademark.
According to a ruling in 2010 by Canadian Judge G.R. Strathy “moving rapidly forward well into the 20th century”, Bedessee’s un-contradicted evidence is that it has been using the name ‘Demerara Gold’ as a trademark for sugar and other products in Canada and the United States since at least 1984.
On the other hand GuySuCo’s evidence is that, prior to 2003, its marketing was relatively unsophisticated.
“It sold sugar for export primarily in the Caribbean region, and the sugar was sold ‘nameless’ in unlabeled 50 kg bags with unsophisticated packaging.”
It was in April 2003, according to the judge GuySuCo launched its first branded sugar for the retail trade, which it called ‘Demerara Gold’, the same name used by Bedessee.
According to the background of the case, as provided in the decision seen by this newspaper in 2010, Bedessee Imports Ltd was founded by Lionel Bedessee, who went to Canada from Guyana in 1971.
Then it was difficult to find Caribbean foods in Ontario and Bedessee began to import food from that region. In 1977, he started a retail store selling Caribbean food on Queen Street West in Toronto and from that store, the business has grown and prospered to the extent that at present it operates from a 46,000 square foot warehouse and manufacturing facility in Scarborough. Bedessee Imports Inc. was incorporated on September 23, 1985 to carry on the same business in the United States. It has a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York and a wholesale outlet in Florida, both of which are now managed by the founder’s sons.