“Brexit” has finally occurred on January 31. Following the Revised Withdrawal Agreement ratified by both parties, a transition period has begun and will run until December 31, 2020. Within this period, GIs from both parties will continue to be protected in…
With the recognition of Pluma (coffee), the number of national GIs protected in Mexico has grown to 70. On the international side, according to article 18 of the 1997 Agreement on the mutual recognition and protection of designations for spirit drinks between…
The “Asociación Española de Denominaciones de Origen” (ORIGEN ESPAÑA) was created in 2008 to raise awareness at the national level on the essential role played by Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) in the agri-food sector.…
On 21 January, the Committee on International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament (EP) gave its consent to the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (FTA) and recommended the EP Plenary do the same. Chapter 12 of the agreement concerns GIs. Upon…
My first brush with geographical indications (GIs) was when I joined my firm, K&S Partners, in March 1998. My mentor in the profession, Rajendra Kumar, entrusted me with a trademark opposition to be filed in Colombia. The mark to be…
Following the conclusion of the EU/China stand-alone GIs Agreement in November, earlier in December the European Commission published the text, which may be subject to further modifications as a result of the legal revision. The annexes V and VI (list of…
On 13 December, the US, Mexico and Canada signed the USMCA. The trade agreement talks had been concluded in October 2018 and an earlier version of the text had been published then. As for GIs (Section E, articles 20.29 to…
On 21 November, the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) entered into force. The agreement facilitated the protection in Singapore of 138 EU GIs , which had to go through a national opposition phase. You can check the status of the GI you…
On 6 November, in the contest of the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT), WIPO hosted an “Information Session” on GIs. Three topics were addressed: Evaluation of “genericness”; GIs as IP titles in…
On 26 November, the EU deposited with the WIPO its instrument of accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. Being the EU the fifth eligible party to join this treaty , according to…
On the 9th of December, Australia and the EU will commence the sixth round of negotiations relating to the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement (AUSEUFTA). The preceding five rounds of negotiations have highlighted the importance of GIs protection in trade…
On 18 November 2019, the DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission organized in Brussels a workshop to discuss the economic aspects of GI protection for non-agricultural products. It was the opportunity to present the…
China has gone through a process of reorganization of its intellectual property system. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) is now the national authority in charge of GIs. On October 16, according to the principle of unifying the identification of…
On 6 November, China and the EU concluded the negotiations on a stand-alone GIs agreement, which will protect 100 European GIs in China and 100 Chinese GIs in the EU. The Agreement (please note that this is not the final version,…
To fulfil its obligations under the CETA, in 2017 the Canadian government passed the Bill C-30 (“An Act to implement the CETA between Canada and the European Union and its Member States and to provide for certain other measures”). Thanks to…
Last August, a webinar on the protection of GIs in China was organized by CHINABRAND IP CONSULTING, an associate member of oriGIn. If you have missed it, you can watch the records @ Please find here more information by CHINABRAND…
In October 2016, with the support of oriGIn, the Suisse Association of AOP/IGP had organized a seminar in Lausanne to discuss the best practices in Europe on GIs market controls. Italian groups had attended the event and presented the role…
In September, the Intellectual Property chapter (including its annexes concerning the list of GIs to be protected under the agreement) of the EU/Mercosur FTA were published for information purposes. The text might undergo further modifications in the process of legal…
On October 9, the Law No. 123-IX “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Improving the Legal Protection of Geographical Indications” introduced GIs in the Ukrainian legislation. In line with the definition provided in the TRIPs Agreement, GI are…
At the beginning of October, during the Fifty-Ninth Series of Meetings of the WIPO Assemblies in Geneva, Samoa and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea joined the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications.…
