On May 9, following the action lodged by the “Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Gorgonzola” (hereinafter “the Consorzio”), the Turin business Court (hereinafter “the Court”) invalidated the Italian trademark “GORGO CAPRA” for “milk and products derived from milk”, considered similar products, on the basis of the earlier Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) “GORGONZOLA”. The trademark was not invalidated for other products in class 29 for which it was registered.
The Court uphold the Consorzio arguments and considered “GORGO CAPRA” an evocation of the PDO “GORGONZOLA” pursuing Articles 13 and 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 of 20 March 2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs (Regulation in force when the dispute aroused, currently replaced by Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs). The Court referred to the case law on evocation, in particular to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decisions in the GORGONZOLA/CAMBOZOLA and the PARMESAN Cases (C-87/97 and C-132/05, respectively).
The Court condemned the owner of “GORGO CAPRA” to stop any further production and commercialization of milk products under the invalidated trademark, and to pay 9.000 Euros to the Consorzio in legal and ruling publication costs.
More information @ http://www.marques.org/class46/Default.asp?XID=BHA3761
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