ModernJeweler.com |

The past year has been challenging for the colored gemstone industry. First there was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision that they really were interested in regulating blue topaz after all. Then turmoil in Burma led to a likely ban on imports of Burmese gemstones like jadeite and ruby. Now it’s “Paraiba-type” tourmaline’s turn in the legal hot seat.

Paraiba tourmaline dealer David Sherman of Paraiba.com, who mines Paraiba tourmalines in Brazil, has filed suit in California against the American Gem Trade Association, the Gemological Institute of America, gemstone wholesaler Brazil Imports, and 18 AGTA board members charging that the use of the term “Paraiba” to refer to copper-containing tourmalines mined in Africa has devalued tourmaline from the original Brazilian deposit, causing him to lose sales and his inventory to drop in value. The suit asks for damages of $120 million.

Why sue AGTA and GIA? Reports from the AGTA Gem Testing Center and GIA Laboratory use the term “Paraiba,” derived from the name of the Brazilian state where the tourmaline was originally found, to refer to any copper-containing tourmaline, regardless of origin.

The labs’ decision to use “Paraiba” on reports of copper-bearing African tourmaline follows nomenclature standardized by the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee which defines Paraiba as a tourmaline variety name for cuprite elbaite tourmaline. The committee is composed of representatives from labs around the world, including AGTA and GIA in the U.S., CISGEM in Italy, GAAJ Laboratory in Japan, GIT-Gem Testing Laboratory in Thailand, and Gubelin Gem Lab and SSEF Swiss Gemmological Institute in Switzerland. The LMHC ruled in 2006 that, “The variety name ‘Paraiba’ is derived from the Brazilian locality where this gemstone was first mined, however today it may come from a number of localities.”

Neon blue and green Paraiba tourmaline was discovered by Heitor Barbosa in the Sao Jose de Batalha mining area of the state of Paraiba in 1987. The production from that deposit waned in the late 1990s and was supplemented by other similar deposits in Brazil. In his complaint, Sherman uses the term Paraiba not only to refer to tourmaline mined in the Brazilian state of Paraiba but also tourmaline mined in the neighboring Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte.

AGTA board members named in the suit include Barbara Lawrence, Omi Nagpal, Kambiz Sabouri, Betty Sue King, Sam Podder, John Bachman, Peter Bazar, Robert Bentley, Soraya Cayen, Sushil Goyal, Benjamin Hackman, Robert Kane, Glenn Lehrer, Surinder Mittal, Joe Orlando, Eric Schwotzer, Eric Braunwart, and William Larson. — Cheryl Kremkow