Welcome to our site
The American Origin Products Association (AOPA) exists to bring together producers and producer groups across the U.S. with products closely tied to their region of origin.  We invite you to read more and join us.

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U.S. geographical indications, or what we call American Origin Products, are receiving increasing attention at home and abroad. 

This guide clarifies what distinguishes them and offers case studies of four U.S. products. 

GI producers around the world strive to promote their products to consumers, and their high quality often brings a higher price.  However, with consumer demand comes serious challenges in protecting the identity of their products in a globalized marketplace. Dishonest sellers are tempted to copy product names, logos and even containers in an effort to pass off their fraudulent copy as the authentic article.  The AOPA is dedicated to helping U.S. producers fight back against this situation.

The guide was published in 2010 with the support of oriGIn (the Organisation for an International Geographical Indications Network (http://www.origin-gi.com/). 
OriGIn is the international umbrella organization of Geographical Indications producer groups, representing some 150 producer associations (over two million) from over 40 countries.
American Origin Products and the TTIP:
Collaboration for Rural Development
The AOPA took part in a research and outreach project January 1, 2014 through April 29, 2016 exploring intellectual property issues related to geographical indications, or origin products. Differing views held by the EU and U.S. on how to best protect origin products (GIs) in trade were shared and contrasted through a series of eight panels held in various cities across the U.S. the panels were captured via live-streaming webinars and are available for viewing, along with other documentation, at this website maintained by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas: 
American Origin Products and the TTIP:
Collaboration for Rural Development
http://cast.uark.edu/cast-research/eu-trd/index.php
The organizers wish to express their gratitude for the opportunity to share this information, and for the excellent presentations given by the many invited speakers who took part in the project.