Coffee regulator seeks new legal method to register 'Blue Mountain'

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Coffee regulator, the Coffee Industry Board (CIB), wants to register Blue Mountain under a new legal method linking it to Jamaica's geography having mostly failed to register it as a trademark.

It's not academic, but an attempt to stop African and other impersonators from taking advantage of the ambiguous Blue Mountain label. Jamaica Blue Mountain is a registered trademark, but Blue Mountain is too generic to register as a trademark.

"Kenya and Ethiopia are using the name 'Blue Mountain'. In using the name 'Blue Mountain' Kenya says that they used their first coffee plant from Jamaica. They have taken advantage of our uniqueness and brand," said Stacian Bennett, CIB legal officer and Board Secretary speaking to the Observer. "We will explore the possibility of registering the name 'Blue Mountain' as a Geographic Indication (GI) so that the current ambiguity may be resolved."

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