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oriGIn fights for GIs at the WIPO Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System
From 23 to 27 June, oriGIn participated in 9th session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Working Group on the reform of the Lisbon Agreement on the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration.
Coherently with its previous participations in the Working Group, oriGIn advocated for flexible rules with the goal to make the new Lisbon Agreement attractive for a variety of legal systems and traditions. Meanwhile, oriGIn insisted on the importance of pursuing legal certainty and predictability through the new Treaty, in particular with respect to a high level of protection to be provided to both appellations of origin and geographical indications.
The Lisbon Agreement revised draft text discussed by the WIPO Working Group is available @ http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=32429
Legal: Trademark “GORGO CAPRA” invalidated because considered an evocation of the PDO “GORGONZOLA”
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
Legal #2: Rejected a Turkish trademark application containing the word “CUBANO”
In June, the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) rejected a trademark application containing the word “CUBANO”. The TPI Board of Appeal considered the word “CUBANO” descriptive and the trademark not distinctive for the goods covered by the application as it referred to the country of “CUBA” as a principal element. Furthermore, the TPI considered the trademark application misleading for the public with respect to the nature, quality or place of production, geographical origin of the goods by establishing a direct association with Cuba in the consumers ‘mind.
This decision of the TPI shows that the correct application of existing trademark laws can prevent subsequent unnecessary disputes with geographical names.
More information @ http://www.marques.org/Class46/default.asp?XID=BHA3768
EU: The Commission publishes the delegated and implementing acts of the Regulation (EU) 1151/12
On 19 June the European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union (EU) detailed rules which complement the legislative framework of the quality policy and of the CAP Reform in the EU.
In particular, a package of delegated and implementing regulations concerning Regulation (EU) No 1151/12 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs was adopted:
- Commission implementing Regulation No. 668/2014 laying down detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012;
- Commission delegated Regulation No. 664/2014 regard to the establishment of the Union symbols for protected designations of origin, protected geographical indications and traditional specialties guaranteed and with regard to certain rules on sourcing, certain procedural rules and certain additional transitional rules.
The full text of the Regulations is available @ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2014:179:FULL&from=EN
