In the next few days Brazil will be sending to foreign patent and trademark offices a list of the traditional names of Brazilian flora and fauna so that they cannot be registered as commercial trademarks. In the next few days Brazil will be sending to foreign patent and trademark offices a list of the traditional names of Brazilian flora and fauna so that they cannot be registered as commercial trademarks.

The initiative is an effort to prevent a repeat of the case of cupuaçú (Theobroma grandiflorum), an Amazon fruit that the Japanese company Ashai Foods made into a trademark, but was annulled in 2004. A study found another 84 names of Brazilian plants and animals registered in other countries.

“It is an important step,” but fighting biopiracy requires broader measures, Eugenio Pantoja, coordinator of antipiracy campaigns for the group Amazonlink, told Tierramérica. Amazonlink led the legal efforts on cupuaçú and works to train Amazon indigenous peoples to protect their lands and their traditional knowledge from biopiracy.

Brazil's Interministerial Group on Intellectual Property has already approved 2,954 names for the list, including the trees açaí (Euterpe oleracea), andiroba (Carapa guianensis Aubl) and umbú (Spondia tuberosa).