If you were intrigued by our recent nibble about Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb receiving Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European Commission, you’ll no doubt be wondering what other examples of British fare share that honour. Well, Paul Mundy just posted a link to a list over at the ELDev Yahoo group. I have only one comment: 10 types of beer and cider seems too few…
Any Brit will tell you that the Blighty has a lot more than 10 types of beer and cider worth drinking. But most of them are subject to other sorts of intellectual property protection: trademarks, patents, trade secrets, etc. Try to produce and market your own Old Hooky Ale, for example, and you’ll quickly be contacted by the Hook Norton Brewery, which brews this admirable product – and owns the trademark.
Protected designations of origin and geographical indications are like trademarks, but cover not just one company’s products, but the typical products from a particular region. “Old Hooky Ale” wouldn’t qualify, but “Cotswold ale” (covering Old Hooky and similar brews) might.
Go here, enter DOOR, and you’ll know everything!