Unbundling the brand: Differentiation and the law in the Brazilian South American tea industry

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 focussing on the previously little analysed case of the Brazilian South American Tea industry during the period 1875–1913, this study suggests that we need to consider two other typologies 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.