Internet-Okinawa.com

While working on a post over at Karakui, I googled the word “sanpincha” — the official drink of Internet-Okinawa.com staffers — (okay, I’m speaking for everyone here) and found this little bit of interesting news:

All in a name

Jasmine tea has been referred to as sanpincha on Okinawa from olden times and the name is very familiar to the Okinawan people. However, a mainland Japanese company registered sanpincha as their original tea brand name in April, taking Okinawan tea leaf dealers by surprise and making them angry. They say sanpincha is a generic name on Okinawa, impossible to register and to be solely owned by one company. Sanpincha has recently begun to attract attention as a healthy drink, along with oolong tea, and is already fixed as an Okinawan product. A lot of food and drink makers will be restricted from selling cans or PET bottles of it on Okinawa.

One tea farmer said that almost everyone uses the name, and if they are prohibited from using the common term, they will face a life or death situation. The Okinawa Pokka Company, which started to sell sanpincha six years ago, earlier than other companies, said although the real name of the tea is jasmine, the use of sanpin makes for more sales than jasmine on Okinawa.

According to copyright law, a name which is unclear as to whose it is, such as if it is used in general or is a proper noun, is not eligible to register. Tea growers and companies stated that they will demand that the Patent Office cancel the copyright. They claim that the Patent Office made a mistake in judgement when first registering it. [Via The Okinawan Times Weekly Times - 1999.7.31.]

Oi, them crazy mainlanders.