"Red Label Geisha" and "Geisha Coffee" have become private trademarks?!

Coffee enthusiasts are likely familiar with common names in the coffee world such as "Red Label Geisha" and "Geisha Coffee." However, recent searches through the national trademark office website reveal that some merchants are registering these generic names as their own product trademarks, with some trademarks already having passed the trademark office's review process.

Geisha coffee beans originate from the Kaffa forest of Geisha Mountain in Ethiopia. In 1931, a British individual collected coffee beans from the forests around Geisha Mountain in southwestern Ethiopia and exported this batch to Kenya in 1932. In 1936, they were introduced to Uganda and Tanzania, then to Costa Rica in 1953. Panama's introduction came in the 1970s when Mr. Francisco Serracin from the Tumba Seven Estate brought the Geisha variety from CATIE in Costa Rica and distributed it to other coffee farms for cultivation.

The rise to fame of Geisha coffee owes much to Daniel Peterson, owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda, who recognized its potential. Regarding the discovery of the Geisha coffee variety, the most commonly told story has been: "In 2003, Daniel Peterson, owner of Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, faintly detected a captivating floral aroma among processed coffee beans and traced it back to this batch from the windbreak forest."

Daniel Peterson's Presentation at GRAND CRU Event

Regarding such rumors, Daniel Peterson, owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda, shared the history of his Geisha discovery this year at an event hosted by renowned green coffee merchant Grand Cru, stating that the "windbreak forest" claim is completely unfounded.

Daniel explained that the discovery of the "Geisha variety" was the result of years of comparison and testing, finally locking in on this variety in 2003. Two weeks before the 2003 BOP competition, while selecting competition batches on the internal cupping table, he discovered that the Geisha variety possessed outstanding flavors of jasmine, citrus, peach, blueberry, bergamot, and sugarcane. These flavors differed from those preferred by coffee professionals at the time, but Daniel still chose to enter the Geisha variety in the competition and won first place.

The winning batch variety from Hacienda La Esmeralda was originally marked as Geisha. When introduced to Japan, it was transliterated as Gesha. In Japanese, Gesha has a similar pronunciation to げいしゃ (geisha), expressed in kanji as 芸者, which translates to "geisha" in Chinese. Later, when introduced to Taiwan, local coffee industry professionals used the term "艺伎" (Geisha) to name the Geisha variety.

In mainland China, around 2006, Mr. Yuan, the Chinese head of Kalu Dream Coffee, introduced Geisha to the mainland from Panama and named the variety "瑰夏" (Guìxià) through direct phonetic translation. For more than a decade, the terms "艺伎咖啡" (Geisha Coffee), "瑰夏" (Guìxià), and "瑰夏咖啡" (Geisha Coffee) have become generic Chinese names referring to the Geisha variety and coffee beans.

After Hacienda La Esmeralda rose to prominence in 2004 through the Geisha variety, they also classified the Geisha varieties produced on their estate. Before the 2021 harvest season, Hacienda La Esmeralda divided Geisha varieties into three grades, using red, green, and blue as label background colors for distinction. In China, to help consumers more clearly remember each grade, they used Red Label, Green Label, and Blue Label as abbreviated grade distinctions. "Red Label Geisha," "Green Label Geisha," and "Blue Label Geisha" have thus become generic names representing the grade classifications of Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha varieties.

Starting from the 2021 harvest season, Geisha grown at 1,500 meters (originally the Blue Label) was sold entirely to one green coffee company, which launched a brand called "Las Rocas," translated in Chinese as "火山岩瑰夏" (Volcanic Rock Geisha).

"Esmeralda Special" corresponds to the red label color, which is Red Label Geisha. The Esmeralda Special series represents the highest quality Geisha coffee beans sold by Hacienda La Esmeralda, grown in specific plots at elevations between 1,600-1,800 meters, with each batch cupping above 90 points. Typically, this series comes from the Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes sub-estates (the Velo de Novia estate has also produced Red Label series, though this estate plot mainly serves as exploration for commercial viability, growing many coffee varieties).

Another characteristic of Esmeralda Special batches is that each has an independent number, and all coffee beans in a batch come from a small plot, allowing buyers to select suitable batches based on subtle flavor preferences. (The buyers mentioned here are those who trade directly with Hacienda La Esmeralda)

It's worth noting that each year, Hacienda La Esmeralda selects different batches of Esmeralda Special from various plots to participate in international specialty green coffee auctions. These Esmeralda Special batches are clearly marked as auction batches. However, not all Esmeralda Special batches participate in auctions; those that don't compete are non-auction batches.

Auction batches of Esmeralda Special participate in the annual Best of Panama (BOP) green coffee competition, engaging in battles among "kings" with other coffee beans grown in the Panama region. Through cupping, a selection of "kings of kings" is chosen before entering the auction phase.

During the auction, buyers can bid continuously to purchase their desired coffee beans. The highest auction price is referred to as "标王" (Champion of Bids) by Chinese coffee industry professionals. If Geisha coffee beans achieve the highest auction price, they are called "标王瑰夏" (Champion Bids Geisha) by Chinese coffee industry professionals. Therefore, "标王瑰夏" has become a generic name representing the highest-priced Geisha variety in the BOP auction.

The greatest significance of trademark registration lies in the exclusive rights granted to trademark registrants, protected by law, preventing others from imitation, otherwise allowing legal action for infringement and economic compensation. However, many rights protection incidents have recently appeared online, where some merchants claim that certain names used in others' products are their registered trademarks, demanding product removal and economic compensation.

Trademark rights protection itself is meant to safeguard the exclusive rights of trademark registrants, but now it poses significant potential risks to various industries. Every industry has generic names, but trademark examiners are not familiar with the generic names in each industry. Therefore, although Article 11 of China's Trademark Law stipulates that generic names cannot be registered as trademarks, it's impossible to completely prevent the registration of some generic names not widely recognized by the public.

Currently, the company's registration of "Red Label Geisha" and "Champion Bids Geisha" has passed the advertising and sales trademark review. This company has also applied for the "Geisha Coffee" trademark with the trademark office, which rejected this application; otherwise, it might have caused more merchants to fall into this trap.

"Red Label Geisha" is a generic term in China referring to Hacienda La Esmeralda's Esmeralda Special, and also a specific designation. It would be more appropriate if Hacienda La Esmeralda were the trademark holder.

Generic names refer to names of certain goods or services that are legally established or commonly used within a certain scope. Turning "Red Label Geisha" and "Geisha Coffee," which have been sold for many years, into private trademarks for a single company—while the intention remains unclear—seems to pose significant risks to cafés selling Red Label Geisha coffee beans in the industry, warranting industry attention.

In the coffee industry, "Golden Mandheling" is a registered trademark of PWN Green Coffee Company. Although it has been registered as a trademark protected by local law in Japan, no one has done this in China for many years. Therefore, coffee professionals know that "Golden Mandheling" belongs to PWN's registered trademark, so no one has attempted to claim the "Golden Mandheling" trademark, as it is considered a generic name.

Image source: Internet

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat, ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473