What does the ® mean?

The fact that PACA is a registered trademark does not mean that anybody who uses it has to pay a licence fee. There are no licence fees around PACA. Our main concern is about good practice and quality control. This is the reason why we retain the right to intervene when individuals who, in our view, are not adequately trained and experienced in PACA try to sell it, in particular to technical assistance organisations. Apart from this, anybody who has been trained by mesopartner or mesopartner-certified PACA trainers and who is a member of the PACA Community of Practice may use the PACA label.

We have consistently pointed out that we will and can not pursue a defensive approach to secure our intellectual property rights. There will never be an army of lawyers who chase everybody who is using PACA without asking mesopartner for permission. We rather offer a service-driven model. Everybody who is interested in introducing PACA can contract PACA trainers at very reasonable rates. Everybody who practices PACA is invited to become a member in the Community of Practice, again at a very reasonable rate. The Community of Practice offers constant updates on methodological issues around PACA and LED more generally, as well as an opportunity to exchange experience with other PACA practitioners.

PACA is a registered trademark in the European Union. The owner of the trademark is Jörg Meyer-Stamer, who pioneered the development of PACA. For him, the trademark registration as such does not create any income stream. He took the decision to register the trademark after he had been made aware of the fact that other consultants claimed to be knowledgeable about PACA, based only on their reading of early documents that at that time were freely available. In at least two cases such consultants delivered PACA in an inappropriate way, thus damaging the credibility of the brand.