Geographical indications of origin may be the poor relation of intellectual property law, but it is a subject that continues to grow in interest and importance. In international trade terms, it remains high on the agenda, in particular in agreements and negotiations to which the European Union is a party. National registration schemes for GIs have proliferated around the world, including Asia. The motivation for this new book arose out of the research conducted by the editors on the role, potential and place of GIs in the Australian agricultural context. In undertaking this research, we concluded that the domestic debate on GIs has been framed almost exclusively in terms of gains and losses in international trade. It ignored the question of the potential for GIs to serve as rural and regional development tools in Australia, something we highlighted in our research. This led us to speculate about the perceived role of GIs as rural policy instruments globally. What has been the expectation and experience with GIs as agricultural development tools in both the Old World and the New? Are GIs seen to contribute to the protection of high-value products for smaller countries whose volume production is increasingly under threat by larger producing nations? How significant is rural economic impact compared to other GI policy goals? We found that in the Old World, for instance, cultural and historical dimensions are more central to the consideration of GIs than in Australia. However, rural economic impact has always been a significant theme in debates around the world.