Slashdot Mirror
Coffee and Intellectual Property
cervesaebraciator writes "A 'Coffee Branding Workshop,' sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization, was held recently in Arusha City, at which the Director General of the Tanzania Coffee Board presented a paper titled 'Supporting the Coffee Sector with added Value Products Through Intellectual Property and Branding.' The paper encouraged the use of intellectual property claims, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, and designs, as sources of income which can be used to support agriculture in Africa. The Director General claimed that '[Intellectual property rights] are the basis for today's knowledge based economy and international competitiveness.' This is no doubt related to a broader effort to advance western style intellectual property in Africa through claims of the benefits it offers agriculture. Promoting western style intellectual property law as a means of third world development is a popular strategy for WIPO, the only branch of the UN to have significant wealth deriving from contributions independent of Member States. On a related note of interest to Slashdotters, there is a history of tension between WIPO advocates and FOSS advocates." I hope they take advantage of the marketing possibilities offered by civet-processed coffee.
There is NO SUCH THING as "intellectual property". It's a farce. I, for one, am looking forward to a left-leaning "creative commons" Star Trek like world where profit means little, and the freedy people (Ferengi) are forbidden interlopers.
My office basically shuts down when the coffee machine is broken. I am not saying this is correct (I don't drink coffee myself ... I prefer Coke).
But I'm just saying - no coffee, no workee.
Has anyone patented civet-processed coffee? For those of you not up to date on this technology, civet cats eat the coffee berries including the "beans" which are the stones of the berries. After they go through the cat and are dropped behind it, men gather the "beans" and then roast them as usual for coffee beans from other sources. Some connoisseurs consider such beans to be the "ne plus ultra" of coffee.
Whether or not you can extract (and I choose that word deliberately) wealth from a nation through the fiction we call "intellectual property" has nothing to do with the long-term viability of that concept.
When people starve to death because Monsanto won't let them grow patented plants, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
When people starve to death because Goldman Sachs has cornered the Red Spring Wheat market, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
When people die of malaria because Novartis would rather profit than save lives, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
"Intellectual property" literally means nothing more than "we value dollars over your life". Anyone using that as a defense for their actions counts as nothing short of a race traitor - To the human race.
The sooner We The People stop putting up with this shit, the sooner we can get back to improving our world rather than making sure the "right" people get paid for improvements 20 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak
the ultimate real world "emperor's new clothes" joke
1. the dutch colonists didn't let the indonesian farmers enjoy their own coffee crop (consider them lucky, the dutch committed genocide to protect their nutmeg trade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banda_Islands#Massacre_of_the_Bandanese ). the farmers knew jungle civet cats raided the crops and ate coffee beans and shat them out mostly undigested. so, to enjoy coffee, the farmers processed cat shit to take the coffee beans out and brew coffee
cut to: clueless westerners, seeing locals drinking cat shit coffee, and thinking this is some exotic folkloric way to enhance coffee taste, start clamoring for this "authentic" way to enjoy coffee. add some marketing mumbo jumbo bullshit (i mean, catshit) about the civet cat digestive enzymes enhancing taste, and you have the birth of the world's most expensive coffee
rich morons deserve to fooled and fleeced of their money
in other words, i support the use of intellectual property law by poor states against the assholes who made up this lame legal framework. intellectual property law is of course a joke. and those who created it should, and shall, suffer for foisting this bullshit on the world
be careful what you create, western legal trolls. it has a way of coming back to bite you in the ass (out of which comes delicious coffee)
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
There’s no link to the paper, but that’s not what the linked article says. It says that they’re pushing an initiative to benefit African agriculture through IP and branding. Copyrights, patents, and designs are mentioned only in the context of the presenter explaining to the audience what “intellectual property” even means. (The fact that he felt the need to do that is telling.)
I suspect the main thrust would be developing geographical indicator branding, like appellations d'origine contrôlée or Cornish pasties; the article mentions Ethiopia’s success in this regard.
... then someone else will try to patent tea, guava juice, soybean milk, coconut juice .... ... and ultimately someone will patent water.
Can you imagine the final outcome ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
It's perfectly natural for Coffee and Intelectual Property to go hand in hand.
Coffee is a diuretic, after all.
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Ultimately you're still drinking caffeine by drinking Coke. I guess that's the most important part though.
Except there were more medicinal compounds patented BEFORE patents were introduced.
http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/papers/ip.ch.9.m1004.pdf
And in Italy there was a measurable slowdown in development JUST AFTER INTRODUCTION of patents for medicines. Profits went up, new drugs went down. They simply didn't have to try so hard to compete.
From TFA...
The process of obtaining IP rights for these three products - collective marks for cotton and vanilla and a trademark for sesame - is well under way. The IP and branding strategies that have been developed under the project “will guarantee the origin of the selected products, and establish the link between their unique and distinctive qualities and their geographical origin,” Mr. Mengistie explains. “They will also make it possible to maintain and enhance the reputation and goodwill of the products by putting into place a quality control and certification system that will enable a range of actors involved in the supply chain to use the brand (be it protected as a certification mark, a collective mark, a trademark or a geographical indication) and to share in the benefits derived from marketing a unique, high-value product.”
Thing is, there is already vetting and accountability for quality, on the part of the manufacturers of the end-product. If, say, Nestle uses bad vanilla, it will damage consumer demand for the Nestle brand, so they do indeed already do the work necessary to avoid this. This insertion of additional "IP" seems entirely gratuitous middle-manning.
Let's clarify here. Some IP represents actual added value in terms of utilization of raw materials, via technology or other human ingenuity. Some is merely...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking
If you can't build a better mousetrap, make people pay for the mere notion of your Essential Mousetrap Definition (TM). To overload the metaphor, the rats trying to profit off of this particular gaming of the system (and the forms of it are ubiquitous and manifold) are going to bring down our economic ship which has historically required actual added value be offered somewhere.
Through Global Warming we are making our world uninhabitable. It would be really stupid to teach everyone else to do as we do. That is just speeding up the train to catastrophe.
Although not directly related to coffee, there is a very interesting TED talk from Jojanna Blakley that touches this exact point. She compares the fashion industry, in which there are pratically no copyright law or intellectual property, to the entertainment industry where this is heavily overblown. Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html
If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
while there is economic activity to be had by creating fences around ideas and words, one real reason IMO that non-industrial economies are mired in poverty is that the current economic valuation systems DO NOT VALUE life-associated products. It is well known that MOTHERHOOD, CLEAN WATER and a HUNDRED SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS OF HEALTHY WILDLIFE are worth NOTHING, but taking all of the silver from the ground, killing all living things around it, and polluting the water with mercury for a hundred years, is the source of great wealth.
We are living in a world where the tide has changed, humans now drive the show to a great extent, and one of the largest steering mechanisms known, money, is valued in stupid ways from the past.
Intellectual property is antithetical to the production of anything. It's a way to keep 80% of the population (the proportion not required to support human needs) busy arguing about the nuances of ownership whilst the people producing the required goods are starving to death in sweatshops around the world. IP is a means to enforce modern slavery, nothing more.
Africa is full of international tension, starvation, warlords, drug abuse, HIV and incredibly, incredibly poor people. There's only 2 ways a director general of a UN body could keep a straight face while talking about the 'knowledge economy' in Africa:
1/ He's an imbecile
2/ Botox
nuff said.
Patents and copyrights can already be asserted in most African nations, as they're signatories on many of the various copyright and patent treaties (PTC, Berne, etc)
When I hear crap like that I am reminded that "If fleas could talk, they would tell you how they benefit dogs."
Seeds. Canned goods. Fresh fruits and vegetables. Corporate agriculture and agricultural co-ops began branding products no later than the 1880s.
Think about it for five minutes and you'll remember dozens of slogans, jingles and characters, some of them older than your great-grandparents. Branding works. IP has market value.
.
"Intellectual property rights" are the basis for today's starvation and scarcity based economy and world wide suffering.
These goddamn people should be strung up. Unfortunately they are killing people and they are winning. It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than these symbolic 24 hour strikes to get any results. You better know they will start shooting before they give up one bit of their power. Can we stand up to it? If not, the battle is already lost.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
...that without IP, you would not have Star Trek. Or Star Wars. Or Bladerunner. Or even Iron Skies, at least in its final form.
--fyngyrz -- anon due to mod points
After all, "Juan Valdez" is a complete marketing dynasty. So effective that people actually think that Colombian coffee actually ** IS ** the richest in the world (it's not, Kona richer). In Colombia there are Juan Valdez coffee shops, etc. More power to them.
Not mega corporations who bribe their ways into creating the IP laws, and use this as an excuse to take complete control of developing countries.
Not that IP is inherently evil, it's just been manipulated into being evil. Increasing it's power will only make it worse.
Don't knock the Civet coffee until you've tried it, its the bomb.
Also, a large part of the medications used today originated at publicly funded universities.
And many of these universities patent and license their work as well. Revenue from these licenses help fund medical/pharma research and the university in general.
For example the University of California is quite aggressive regarding patenting and licensing discoveries. Half of the revenue goes to the general UC budget, a quarter to the department where the discovery originated and a quarter to the employees who made the discovery.
BTW, the UC licensing program gives breaks to small local companies.
in 2003 WIPO would move to have open source stricken from the books as it were. We were relishing the much famed third stage of Ghandis "first they ignore you" speech. Ironically enough, "intellectual property" was also a consideration when british colonialists slaughtered en-masse many on the indian subcontinent for daring to make their own salt, tax free mind you, from sea water.
Coffee is a globally traded commodity, and many blends are in fact copy written. try to grind your own Folgers, BlueBottle or Stumptown analogue, and you'll likely find an armada of lawyers jackbooted at your doorstep. men will fight as dogs will bark for money so long as American capitalism(c) is touted abroad as some panacea for the malady of the third world; much of which, wrought by first world hands to begin with. Intellectual property is just another system by which the stratification of social classes is enforced. Much as knowledge was the privy of lords and kings in the middle ages, such is the knowledge today the privy of a christened few who hold the 'intellectual' rights.
only when enough people, and perhaps they already have, realize this model to be corrupt to the core, will there be much interest in combating it. a MjÃlnir of sorts was forged in 1989 by a man named Richard Stallman which has to date been the only effective weapon against "intellectual property." I would predict a GPLv3 coffee would elicit no less than cringing terror in the body WIPO. I smile to think it might be considered as an alternative in places like Malawi and Columbia, but am resigned to conclude it will be smeared into taboo and counter-culture.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Champagne must come from the Champagne region of France. Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano) must be produced in a limited number of Italian provinces. There are other examples of such branding that convey the quality and source of various products. If this is what they are after, I'm fine with it.
But if the goal is to sell a particular brand name associated with a region or culture to a corporation for their use on any old product, forget it. I'm not in favor of some growers commoditizing their reputation.
Have gnu, will travel.
Except there were more medicinal compounds patented BEFORE patents were introduced.
Compounds from decades and centuries past were the easier to obtain "low hanging fruit". Plus the regulations and litigation of the modern era has significantly driven up costs.
And in Italy there was a measurable slowdown in development JUST AFTER INTRODUCTION of patents for medicines.
That conclusion is an abuse of statistics. It was 9.3% over a *twenty* year period compared to 7.5% over a *four* year period. The change is insignificant. The periods of observation too different. Other significant factors not considered.
IP in this context means WESTERN LAWYERS sucking the life out of impoverished African agriculturalists.
That is not true, IP can protect the smaller and independent coffee growers. For example IP was used to protect the small coffee growers in Kona, Hawaii. Prior to their use of IP to protect the "Kona" brand, Kona blends from some major distributors contained very little Kona sourced beans. Not only did this reduce the sales of the Kona growers, diminish their brand by associating it with an inferior experience, but it was deceptive to consumers. I learned of this by sitting next to such a grower on a flight to Hawaii. In other words I am offering the perspective of a small and independent coffee grower.
All IP is not created equal. Here they are simply talking about trademarking by regions. Why? Because of vanilla. Madagascar vanilla was recognized as the best in the world. But Madagascar farmers got like 10 cents per pod, while the pods sell in NY for 50 dollars a pod (made up numbers, but you get the point). So the farmers create a geographical indicator (GI) for Madagascar vanilla, certify their product, and now make 25 dollars per pod.
Coffee is just following this model, so you can market Zimbabwe coffee and Ghana coffee and wherever else and the farmers get to keep a greater share of the profits. Honestly I don't see how this is anything but good - poor farmers keep more of the market value of their product.
When you hear the word IP, don't foam at the mouth picturing Simon Legree twirling his mustache. Stop, think, and listen. IP is just a tool, it can be used for good or ill.
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
I'm reading Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy". Apparently it's the manager's bible.
/. and that IP is discussed vigorously here. My stance on IP is one with a good deal of skepticism. IP is derived form an intellect which always belongs to a person. I reject the concept of collective intellect whereby a business believes it nourishes and/or owns it.
Porter advocates that competition to be the best is not a viable path to follow. Instead value must be created, the value chain must be enforced and the influences concerning 1) threats of competition, 2) threats of substitution, 3) bargaining power of customers and 4) bargaining power of suppliers must be managed well. Porter mentions patents and IP as factors but, of course, takes no political position.
So, the most important issue here is that it's actually good that coffee producers actively consider competitive strategy. It should result in a more balanced coffee market whereby 1) we value and pay more for it and 2) the value chain of producing countries is enforced.
It remains to be seen whether the distribution of this newly created wealth will be undertaken fairly.
Whether IP is good or bad is besides the point. It's merely a factor in developing and managing a business strategy. IP is available to any body or organisation in equal quantities.
I also realise I'm on
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
No shit?
I think he meant to write coke, not Coke (the brand of soft drink). That would explain a lot but has little to do with caffeine.
There is not a single word in the parent post that would give a slightest idea about how those braniacs are going to support agriculture with IP rights. Yapping for the whole paragraph and not a hint about the topic.
The thing I don't get is even if he were born in Kenya, he was born to a US citizen mother, making him a citizen. He's a natural born citizen no matter what, so why so much grief about it?
Learn to love Alaska
after all a scruple is a measurement of weight. ( The Apothecaries' system )
20 Grains = 1 Scruple
3 Scruples = 1 Drachm
12 Drachms = 1 Pound
So if you've less than three scruples, I couldn't give a drachm about them!
*snerk*
Its funny how these old words linger. :-)
"Your statement doesn't contain a grain of truth!"
"I'll take a wee dram with you!!!"
And "scruples" as you mentioned...
IP stands for Internet Protocol and has nothing to do with coffee. What you are on about is called Trademark. That's what branding is all about: Trademark.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
I really cant take serious any group willing to drink something from a cats ass...
I wonder if this a push from Europeans, where they have sought to protect products like champagne for use exclusively for wines from a certain region. Champagne used to be the common term for sparkling wine.
Realy nice Info. thank u for sharing this topic. Hi all helpme, please support my link Seo Contest. Im From Indonesia. Slashdot popular In Indonesia. Im happy Join Here. http://palukursusdisain.blogspot.com/2012/10/promo-kartu-member-indomaret-minimarket.html
Starbucks is one example of this bullshit intellectual property rights abuse. They claim they make no profit in the developed work and therefore evade paying tax. The profit is made in some third world tax haven that invoices the trading operation for IP rights that wipe out any profit.
A more accurate paper title: "Supporting the Global Larceny & Coercion Pimp Sector with added Value Products Through Intellectual Property and Branding"
I resent tarring western law or intellectualism with ancient, vestigial evils based on the divine right of kings and despot enslavers. The entire progress of western culture has been AGAINST this. That dog don't hunt.
My understanding is the use of water to sort the beans changes the flavor VS having more human labor to hand pick through the beans.
Now here is a possible value add - as my memory is the hand sorted beans are going for $35 a lbs.
If automated - an interesting economic model. Solar panels to run the sort line at harvest and the locals would have electrical power for the rest of the year.
from what i can see this would be better served by defining "Fair Trade" and %Origin% Coffee not by any sort of Branding thing
If you define "Fair Trade" as A B C D E F must be true then anybody claiming "Fair Trade" with out all of those being true is violating standards.
If you claim that your coffee beans are from %Origin% and they were sourced from a location outside the borders of %Origin% then you are violating standards.
So if you claim your coffee was grown on Monastery under Fair Trade rules then i would expect the raw beans to have skin cells from the Monks (hopefully just skin cells and not bits of Cross).
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
> I hope they take advantage of the marketing possibilities offered by civet-processed coffee.
Just had a bit too much to drink...
"If you're not passionate about your operating system, you're married to the wrong one."