On October 25th, 2011 the Registry of Intellectual Property registered the Protected Designation of Origin for Coffee  Antigua, becoming the first registered designation of origin in Guatemala providing benefits for more than 900 producers in the region.

The production area of Antigua Coffee covers 7321.5 hectares (18.092 acres) of cultivated area, located between the volcanoes Agua, Fuego and Acatenango, Department of Sacatepéquez, whose municipal seat is the city of Antigua, Guatemala.

Since 2006, Consortium – Rodriguez, Archila, Castellanos, Solares & Aguilar from Guatemala has counseled The Antigua Coffee Producers Association (APCA) in the application process for a Designation of Origin Coffee Antigua, as well as handling the administrative files for the development of the Policy and Administration of Use of the Designation of Origin Coffee Antigua.

Legal counsel for this project was provided by Ivon Hernandez, with the cooperation and supervision of Partners Alvaro Castellanos and Ninoshka Urrutia from the Intellectual Property department of the firm. For the past five years, they completed all the mandatory  requirements established by the Registry of Intellectual Property as well as the law, conducted soil studies, product links with its territory and human and historical elements that justify the protection.

Consortium - Guatemala has taken this project as pro-bono, because they have believed in the vision of the APCA producers which is to gain legal and International recognition of their coffee.For Guatemala, and especially for the Antigua region, this project is a landmark achievement, since the registration of the designation will avoid the misuse of the name in coffees that are not produced in the protected region, it will keep the coffee’s positioning in international markets with the goal of reaching new connoisseurs of value added products due to the designation of origin and will ensure that the PDO will benefit the entire marketing chain of coffee in the region.