Case Law Update: JAMAICA RUM
Rachael Lodge Corrie | February 09, 2026
Rachael Lodge Corrie is a Partner of the boutique law firm Foga Daley based in Kingston, Jamaica. As a member of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Department, she focuses on complex trademark matters, including prosecution, responding to office actions, opposition and revocation proceedings and trademark portfolio management. She is currently a member of the INTA Presidential Task Force, co-chair of the Curriculum and Strategic Advancement Subcommittee of INTA’s Trademark Administrators Committee and is a member of the Women’s IP Today steering committee, a non-profit organization advancing the interests and rights of women in the workplace globally. Rachael also tutors Entertainment Law at the University of the West Indies and is a member of the Jamaican Bar Association (JAMBAR) Intellectual Property Committee and Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Technology Committee.
Since presenting the Alt Legal Webinar, Jamaican It Easy to Keep this Secret: Peculiarities of Jamaican trademarks, there have been several ongoing legal disputes within the local IP landscape. One of the most widely reported cases concerns the registered geographical indication “Jamaica Rum.” Jamaica is world-renowned for its rum – it has the most rum bars per square mile and as a recent article in The Guardian put it “Rum is booming but only Jamaican classics have the true funk.” But what does it take to meet this high standard and be deserving of the name “Jamaica Rum”? This question is at the heart of an ongoing battle locally over the Geographical Indication for “Jamaica Rum.”
On December 1, 2016 “Jamaica Rum” was registered as a Geographical Indication (“GI”) in Jamaica in the name of Spirits Pool Association, pursuant to the Protection of Geographical Indications Act. As mentioned in my earlier presentation, Jamaica is making efforts to protect its Nation brand, “Brand Jamaica” and the registration of the GI was a major step in ensuring that only rums deserving of the reputation which Jamaican Rum carries worldwide, would be allowed to name themselves as such.
The shareholders of the Spirits Pool Association are various local distillers of rum, namely New Yarmouth Limited, Trelawny Estate Limited, Inswood Estate Limited, The Clarendon Sugar Company Limited, Hampden Estates Limited, J Wray & Nephew Limited and National Rums of Jamaica (NRJ). In December 2020, NRJ sought to rectify the registered GI for “Jamaica Rum” to make certain amendments to the Register. Most notably, NRJ sought a rectification to allow for the ageing of rum overseas, noting that there has been a widespread historical practice of aging overseas and that this should not be a basis to remove the geographical link to Jamaica. Other requests for rectification included, changing permissible water sources, citing climate change concerns, removing the limitation for rum to be stored or aged in small wooden oak barrels and expanding the list of fermenting agents which may be used during the fermentation process.
The Spirits Pool Association Limited opposed these requests for amendment and after a nearly four-year battle, JIPO ultimately amended the Register to read “Ageing shall be carried out only in Jamaica.” JIPO’s decision made it clear that to be designated as “Jamaica Rum”, ageing must be carried out in Jamaica, using specific barrels and water from limited geographical zones. This decision significantly impacted National Rums of Jamaica, which is in the practice of distilling a significant portion of its rum in Jamaica, and then ageing it outside of the country.
NRJ noted that this rectification would irreparably damage its business operations and therefore appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Jamaica and has since secured interim relief to pause the enforcement of JIPO’s ruling.
Applying the legal principles on the granting of interim injunctions, the Court found that there was a serious issue to be tried, particularly in relation to the legal standing of the hearing officer in this matter. The GI Act provides that the Registrar of Industrial Property is exclusively empowered by the legislation to hear and determine the applications and in this case, the matter was not heard by the Registrar, but rather the Deputy Director / Legal Counsel at JIPO.
Having determined that the claim by NRJ is neither frivolous or vexatious, the court considered the balance of convenience and concluded that forcing NRJ to immediately comply with the new rules would cause irreparable harm that could not be adequately compensated by damages.
While NRJ has secured this temporary relief, the legal issues will still need to be determined in a full hearing.
Interestingly, NRJ sought relief not only from the Courts but also sought the intervention of the Fair Trading Commission (“FTC”) in investigating conduct in the rum market locally. As part of their complaint, NRJ alleges that the Spirits Pool Association and other shareholders, have abused their dominance in the market and were attempting to restrict competition and fortify market dominance based on the rectified GI.
The FTC investigation is still underway, and it will be interesting to see how both the FTC investigation and the substantive court trial will ultimately develop.