Funded through a grant by the American Consortium on European Studies, the GIANT Project was developed and is currently administered by Dr. James Lee, Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at American University and Assistant Professor in the AU School of International Service.

American University has established a database of case studies highlighting the intersection between trade, culture, and environment in the global economy. The Trade and Environment Database (TED) includes many cases on culturally and geographically indicated products such as Tequila, Parmesan or Champagne. To search the entire database click TED Cases.

The GIANT Project builds on the work of TED but with a focus specifically on geographic indications: intellectual property claims that are increasingly dominating international trade talks today. Though geographic indications have been around in various forms for over one hundred years, countries have only recently begun staking legal claims to products once thought to be generic, such as parmesan cheese, catfish, and whiskey. As international trade barriers continue to fall, geographic indications represent a new type of trade restriction that hold important implications for industries and countries worldwide.

The GIANT Project hopes to serve as a base of research through which academics and students around the world learn about geographic indications, their impacts on trade today, and the numerous debates being waged around the world on their behalf.