Unbundling the Brand: Differentiation and the Law in the Brazilian South American Tea Industry

TY - JOUR

T1 - Unbundling the Brand

T2 - Differentiation and the Law in the Brazilian South American Tea Industry

AU - Da Silva Lopes, Teresa

AU - Dourado, Bruna

AU - Santos de Souza, Elizabeth

N1 - © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/2/21

Y1 - 2022/2/21

N2 - Standard accounts of the concept of ‘modern brand’ consider it to have developed in the late nineteenth century with the second industrial revolution and to have a range of unique characteristics, including a personality of its own and to be protected by law. Modern brands are considered to have succeeded proto brands, which relied essentially on quality and origin for differentiation. To trace this path, standard accounts build strong links between law, brand identity and product differentiation, suggesting that law and brand are ‘symbiotic’. Looking at a country with early, yet relatively weak, trademark law and a poorly structured registration system and focusing on the previously little analysed case of the Brazilian South American Tea industry during the period 1875-1913, it suggests that we need to consider two other types in the evolution of brands: ‘proto legal brands’ and ‘differentiated proto brands’. So doing, this account provides an innovative view of legislation and registration, and their problematic contribution to anti-competitive protectionism.

AB - Standard accounts of the concept of ‘modern brand’ consider it to have developed in the late nineteenth century with the second industrial revolution and to have a range of unique characteristics, including a personality of its own and to be protected by law. Modern brands are considered to have succeeded proto brands, which relied essentially on quality and origin for differentiation. To trace this path, standard accounts build strong links between law, brand identity and product differentiation, suggesting that law and brand are ‘symbiotic’. Looking at a country with early, yet relatively weak, trademark law and a poorly structured registration system and focusing on the previously little analysed case of the Brazilian South American Tea industry during the period 1875-1913, it suggests that we need to consider two other types in the evolution of brands: ‘proto legal brands’ and ‘differentiated proto brands’. So doing, this account provides an innovative view of legislation and registration, and their problematic contribution to anti-competitive protectionism.

KW - Modern brand

KW - Proto brand

KW - born international’ industry

KW - South American Tea Industry

KW - Brazil, Argentina

KW - differentiation strategies

KW - protection of intellectual property

KW - internationalization

KW - protectionism

U2 - 10.1080/00076791.2022.2036130

DO - 10.1080/00076791.2022.2036130

M3 - Article

SN - 0007-6791

JO - Business History

JF - Business History

ER -