🛡️ Protecting a geographical indication (GI) enables those who have the right to use the indication to take measures against others who use it without permission and benefit from its reputation (“free-riders”). A geographical indication’s reputation is a valuable, collective, and intangible asset. If not protected, it could be used without restriction and its value diminished and eventually lost.

Protecting a GI is also a way to prevent registration of the indication as a trademark by a third party and to limit the risk of the indication becoming a generic term.In general, GIs, backed up by solid business management, can bring with them:
Competitive advantage
More added value to a product
Increased export opportunities
A strengthened brand

Derived from https://www.wipo.int/geo_indications/en/faq_geographicalindications.html