PROTECT THE HUMBOLDT BRAND

Governor Schwarzenegger said he is open to hearing the debate on
legalizing marijuana for adults, and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has a
bill (AB 390) pending before the California Legislature to do just
that.

There will certainly be much debate here in Humboldt around this
issue, particularly on its effects on our local economy. If and when
legalization comes, the best-case economic scenario for local growers
and our local economy may be a model similar to that of the wine
industry, where there is a market for small-scale operations to
compete with larger commercial growers, based on vintage and variety.

Knowing that such a market is even a possibility should motivate our
elected officials to act now to protect the Humboldt name or brand, in
the way that the name Champagne is protected, and not to let the name
fall into the public domain or to take on a generic meaning. In Europe
and elsewhere, for a product to be called Champagne, the wine must
come from that region of France -- and this distinction is protected
by international laws and treaties going back as far the 1891. There
is also the "Protected Designation of Origin" (PDO), as defined in
European Union law and recognized in other countries, to protect the
names of regional foods. That law from 1992 ensures that only products
genuinely originating in a region are allowed in commerce as such.

A more recent example, but without the legal teeth, is Napa's
"Declaration on Place," which is essentially an agreement among
winegrowers internationally, similar in scope to the PDO.

I hope our county supervisors and state and federal representatives
will explore our options to protect the Humboldt name -- as others are
already planning to profit, by having trademarked variation on the
name Humboldt, and we should limit its use to products actually
produced in Humboldt County.