Guyana begins process to protect ‘Demerara’ brand

Dec 02, 2016 News

Guyana is about to go one step further to protect one of its most cherished Geographical

Mr. Bernard O’Connor at the podium delivering his address as Assistant Secretary-General Joseph Cox, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge and representative of the EU Delegation, Adam Wisniewski (seated from left to right).

Indicators (GI), the “Demerara” brand. A conference commenced yesterday at the Guyana Marriott Hotel which is geared towards helping Guyana recapture ownership of the Demerara name.
Lead Expert and lawyer of the Guyana Quality Project, Bernard O’ Connor, said during his address that over the last week, three applications have been submitted to the Commercial Registry to have the registration of geographic indications in Guyana.
According to O’Connor, Guyana has the fortune to have a culture and a history which is tied into the name Demerara. He recognised that the name is used with products such as rum, molasses and sugar.
However, he said that over the years, the fame of the name has spread out and has become well-known in Guyana and abroad. He said that the biggest challenge, however, has been exercising control over the name to the extent that the country’s claim to the name has since slipped away.
He said that the applications which were made mark the end of the first phase of the long term project for the protection of “Demerara” for the benefit of Guyana.
“We have just reached the end of the first phase, and the end of the first phase is the registration. An application takes time and it is a detailed administrative procedure and we can expect that as the applications go forward there will be ups and downs.”
O’Connor said that while the applications are being processed, there are negotiations being

Some of the locally made products on display yesterday as the name “Demerara” takes centre stage.

conducted between the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) and the European Union on the mutual recognition of a series of geographic indicators.
He said that this is so since Guyana has a very special geographic indications law. “What Guyana has in its law is the fact that a geographic indication can be protected without registration. Registration is something in addition; a GI is still a GI even if it is not registered but if it is registered then it benefits from a whole series of other advantages.”
According to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, delivering his address, under Article 145 of the Economic Partnership Agreement protection is provided for geographical indications.
However, he said, “That protection is not automatically given to products. They have to first of all enjoy protection in the countries in question.”
He said that of all the GIs in the Caribbean, only one tenth is registered in the European Union. Greenidge said that the price of a genuine GI product can be double the price for a comparable product which does not enjoy that sort of recognition.
There have been two instances whereby the name Demerara became the centre of international controversy. The first was in the 1913 case of Anderson v. Britcher. In that case, sugar from Mauritius was sold as Demerara sugar originating from Demerara, Guyana.
However, it was argued by the purchaser that the product was not the genuine sugar from Demerara. The court, in its ruling said that the term ‘Demerara’ is a generic one used to describe brown, crystallised sugar produced from sugar cane grown in the country of Demerara, Guyana.
The second case was in 2010 between Bedessee Imports Limited of Canada and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). Similarly, Mauritian sugar was packaged and sold as “Demerara Gold” which was a registered trademark by Bedessee since 1984. At that time another sugar was packaged with the map of Guyana on it.
GuySuCo sought to register the “Demerara Gold” trademark in Canada. Bedessee filed an opposition and tried to register the same name. This was opposed by the government of Guyana.
The case was soon transformed into one questioning statements made by then Minister of Agriculture which Bedessee believed were defamatory. Ultimately, the name “Demerara” has never been dealt with, thereby providing Guyana with the opportunity to have the name registered as a geographic indicator for the country’s benefit.

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