TED Case Study: Polish Vokda

Budweis, Scotch, Grappa, Pisco and Tequila are cases which are most closely related to the case of Polish Zubrowka because they are all alcoholic drinks which were or are involved in intellectual property rights disputes centered on their cultural significance and geographic origins. These cases are evidence of the desire on the part of many producers/countries to maintain the cultural and geographical identification associated with a particular alcoholic product by pursuing exclusive rights to produce and/or label their product. The Budweis case involves a dispute between the United States and the Czech Republic over the right to use the name “Budweiser.” The Scotch case is likewise similar since the distillers in Scotland want the sole right to label their products as “Scotch” because the name pertains to a specific region.

This is also the case with Zubrowka vodka, since the name means “from the bison” which roam in the Bialowieza forest in the northeastern part of Poland . The cases of Grappa, Pisco and Tequila also involve similar issues as cultural geographic indicators. The Scotch and Grappa case are especially relevant since both cases involved the petitioning of EU bodies for exclusive trademark rights, as occurred in the Zubrowka case. The Feta2 case is also very similar to the Zubrowka case, because it involves debate about the exclusive rights to label a product “feta” cheese only if that product in fact is from Greece as Poland sought to establish the same exclusivity for Zubrowka vodka. The Feta2 however, can be differentiated from the alcohol cases since it is not only the geographic origin of the product which is relevant but also the production process and the ingredients coming from a particular region make the product what it is. For further information on geographic indications and international trade, consult the GIANT webpage.

	V. Environment Clusters 20. Environmental Problem Type: Habitat Loss, Deforestation; [SPLL] 21. Name, Type, and Diversity of Species Name: Bison Bonasus Type: ENDANGERED (Source: IUCN Red Data List) Diversity: Lowland sub-species = 1,000 free-ranging animals in Poland, Russia and Ukraine, 2,500 free-ranging animals in Caucasus 23	23a
	22. Resource Impact and Effect: Low and Scale 23. Urgency and Lifetime: Low and 100s of Years 24. Substitutes: Like Products Pawel Sidlo, of the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds, has stated: "Historically, and for the species it contains, Bialowieza is as important to Europe as the Amazon rainforest." The natural wealth of the forest is due to the century old continuation of preservation of the area by different rulers throughout European history, the Dukes of Lithuania, the Kings of Poland and then the Czars of Russia. The forest had received a great deal of protection because of its special status as a favored hunting ground for royalty. Today it boasts an amazing 5,500 species of flora, as much as 3,500 different types of fungi and 25,000 species of fauna, many carnivorous and hoofed animals such as wolves, bison and lynx. The forest is an important laboratory because of the continuity of its natural processes for 10,000 years. The entire Belarussian side of the forest has been a national park since 1991 while only 17% of the Polish side has received protection under national park status. In recent years there has been increased pressure placed upon the Polish government and the European Union from a variety of NGOs such as the World Wildlife Fund to protect the entire Bialowieza forest by granting it national park status.24
	The dynamic structure and natural processes that have been occuring in Bialowieza may easily be perturbed by forest management methods. For example, woodpeckers or other birds feed on spruce cones by pushing them into the bark of old trees, such as oak. This combination of old oaks and woodpeckers feeding on spruce seeds tends to create clumps of spruce trees which helps to create gaps in the forest stands necessary during possible future infestation by round-headed bark beetles. If this natural forest pattern is disturbed through pest control, then the process of spruce and oak regeneration is unable to continue. In the past pressure from the local logging and timber industries threatened the forest, however, cheap timber from Russia has depressed the local industry. The importance of protecting the forest within the framework of the local economy is a vital part of the sustainable development of the entire area. 25	25a
	Bialowieza Primeval Forest (Puszcza Bialowieska) was the only habitat of the lowland European bison in the first half of the 19th century. Until World War I there were about 350 – 1898 bison. The first German army units entered the Primeval Forest in 1915 and as the war swept across the Primeval Forest it started the process of fauna destruction. After being under human care for many years, the European bison had no fear of men and were easily hunted. In March 1917 the German administration registered only 121 specimens. After the German army withdrew, groups of survivors as well as local poachers completed the act of destruction. In the spring of 1919 the last European bison in Bialowieza Primeval Forest died. The only surviving European bison were those on breeding farms or zoos. At the end of 1924 there were 54 specimens and only 3 of them were in Poland. The first step of the European bison restitution in natural conditions was creating a menagerie in 1929. Successful restitution of the European bison after World War II made it possible to create a free breed. In the Polish part of Bialowieza Forest the first European bison were released in 1952 and the first calf was born in freedom in 1957. In 1952-1966, 38 European bison were subsequently released from the breeding reserves.25b The Forest is important not just as the habitat of many rare fauna such as the European bison, but is also contains the last preserved remnants of European Lowland primeval woods. A variety of organisms which had become extinct in other places have survived here as a result of many centuries of protection. In the Bialowieza Forest there are many common species but they often take forms and sizes that are especially unique and cannot be found anywhere else, specifically the various tree specimens. Bialowieza Forest protection has allowed for not only the survival of single species but also for the survival of species groups and plant communities. Woodlands comprise about 96 percent of the entire Forest area. The remaining 4 percent consists of fields, meadows, roads, wastelands as well as flowing and standing waters. These non-wooded areas however, have begun to diminsh quickly as part of natural reforestation processes. About 47 percent of the Bialowieza Forest is deciduous forest, 37 percent is coniferous while wet deciduous and mixed forests are 14.5 percent of the area. Norway spruce is the most numerous, followed by Scotch pine, European alder, oak and several birch species.25c It has been estimated that there are approximately 3-4 thousand fungi in the area of the Bialowieza Forest, a large percentage of which are mushrooms. The fungi group includes very diverse specimens from unicellular organisms and molds to mushrooms and others, with both soft and hard fruitbodies. The slime molds and lichens are particularly prevalent in the Bialowieza. There are as many as 400 species of lichens alone in the Forest, from the rarest rock lichens, to species growing on dead wood and soil. However, as a result of air pollution most of the sensitive lichen speices are either extinct or threatened of dying out. Numerous types of soft, edible mushrooms also grow within the Forest. Some of them such as cauliflower fungus, toothed coral fungus and morels used to be collected and consumed in the past but for this reason are now very rare and have been placed under legal protection.25d Ecotourism is becoming an increasingly popular method for ensuring the survival of the forest, as much in the same way national parks are conserved in the United States. A joint project with WWF and the PAN Parks Organization hopes to create sustainable tourism in the area through the creation of hiking trails, lodging and camping sites, as well as special guided tours to observe the bison.26 While receiving great support from Polish naturalists and environmentalists, ecotourism has not received such a warm welcome by local inhabitants afraid of losing their way of life. The proposed expansion of the national park into the remaining areas of the national forest once Poland joins the European Union in the coming year has not been entirely favored by locals who have traditionally depended upon the forest's resources, related more to cultural practice rather than necessity. For example, with the expansion of the park, the Polish government has ceded to local cultural affinity for picking mushrooms. Locals and tourists will be allowed to pick mushrooms, but only those that are accessible by marked park trails. Criticism still remains from those that believe that such a resource as the Bialowieza Forest should be used, at least partially, especially in a country and an area of Poland that could use the extra income. What is the role of Zubrowka in this conflict between environmental protection and human activities? According to Andrzej Bobiec, while Polmos-Bialystok, the producer of Zubrowka states that the grass used in the vodka comes from the Bialowieza Forest, the actual "bison grass" (Hierochloe odorata) is known from only one location in the Bialowieza Primeval Forest (BPF) and the species has a status of legal protection (no harvest is allowed). There is another, much more common species Hierochloe australis that is apparently grown outside the BPF. Zubrowka vodka production has not had a negative impact upon the BPF itself.27 Rather through its increased exportation to other European countries, the United States and Japan, it has acted to publicize the uniqueness not only of the bison which roam the forest, but also the need to protect such a precious relatively undisturbed habitat. The reintroduction of the bison into the forest after their extinction from the wild after World War I has allowed for the protection of their habitat. Increasing popularity of the vodka is helping to further the goals of ecotourism into the area as a means of further forest conservation and extension of national park status to the entire Bialowieza Primeval Forest. Zubrowka remains as a locally produced cultural product, involving the local environment and inhabitants and by publicizing this fact, it is helping to preserve cultural significance of the BPF, hopefully conveying the urgency to protect it.

Geographic Indications and International Trade (GIANT)

I. Identification

II. Legal Clusters

III. Geographic Cluster

IV. Trade Clusters

V. Environment Clusters

VI. Other Factors

	The grass from which the vodka is made is especially liked by the European bison that roam the Bialowieza Forest. The bison, or zubr as they are called in Polish, have attracted much attention. From the 14th century onward they were some of the only remaining wild bison herds on the European continent until 1919. Efforts were made in the 1920s to introduce bison from zoos and private refuges into the Bialowieza Forest and today there are more than three hundred. The historical and cultural significance of the vodka has not surprisingly created strong reactions to protect what is considered by Poles to be a uniquely Polish product.5	5a
	Zubrowka was a lucrative export product during the Communist period and is once again regaining popularity in the post-Cold War era as more and more Western and Japanese consumers develop a taste for the greenish vodka. Polish producers have suffered due to the decreasing popularity of vodka amongst younger Poles and rampant smuggling of cheaper versions of the drink from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.6 As part of Poland 's privatization process, and especially with forthcoming EU accession, the Polish government put up its vodka distilleries for sale. During the time when most other Polish industries were being privatized, the state owned distilleries known as Polmos, remained under state ownership due to the complex and politically sensitive nature of selling off the sector, especially to foreign companies. In 1999, Bialystok, the Zubrowka brand producer won the rights to Zubrowka and subsequently registered a patent for the name, the bottle and the trademark blade of bison grass inserted in each. In the subsequent compromise between the two sides, Agros secured exclusive export rights to Wyborowa, another popular brand of Polish vodka, manufactured by Polmos Poznan, and non-exclusive rights to Zubrowka manufactured by Polmos-Bialystok.7 Recently in April 2003 as part of its EU accession, Zubrowka, defined as vodka made with bison grass from the Bialowieza Forest, can only be produced in Poland with ingredients from Poland.8