In the Financial Express there is an article about Sri Lankan producers that urge the government to take up their case with WIPO to protect natural cinnamon.
China, India and Indonesia sell cassia as cinnamon.
“The problem has to be addressed,” agrees DM Karunaratne, director-general of the Sri Lankan Intellectual Property Rights office, the government ministry which protects brand names.
However, various countries treat cinnamon and cassia differently. The United States, for instance, allows the term cinnamon to be applied to cassia while in Britain cinnamon has to be the product of cinnamomum zeylanicum.” Read more here.
What Sri Lankan cinnamon planters need is a geographical indication for cinnamon, “a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that place of origin.” Read more on WIPO’s geographical indication here.
