Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Agriculture – Uniform legislation – Protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs – Regulation No 2081/92 – Conflict between geographical indications and trade marks – Article 14(1) – Ambit

(Council Regulations No 2081/92, Arts 14(1) and 17, and No 692/2003)

2. Agriculture – Uniform legislation – Protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs – Regulation No 2081/92 – Conflict between geographical indications and trade marks – Name registered as a geographical indication in accordance with the simplified procedure

(Council Regulations No 2081/92, Arts 6(2), 13, 14(1), and 17, and No 692/2003)

Summary

1. Article 14(1) of Regulation No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs is applicable for resolving the conflict between a name validly registered as a protected geographical indication in accordance with the simplified procedure under Article 17 of that regulation and a trade mark corresponding to one of the situations referred to in Article 13 of that regulation relating to the same type of product, the application for registration of which was submitted both before the registration of that name and before the entry into force of Regulation No 692/2003 amending Regulation No 2081/92.

First, Article 14(1) of Regulation No 2081/92 concerns designations of origin and geographical indications registered ‘in accordance with this Regulation’, without a distinction being drawn on the basis of the registration procedure used. Secondly, the objective of Article 17 of Regulation No 2081/92 was to register in accordance with a simplified procedure names existing in the Member States which, whilst fulfilling the substantive conditions of that regulation, were already protected by law or established by usage.

In that regard, the system introduced by Regulation No 2081/92, in particular that provided for in Article 17, was intended to afford to names registered in accordance with the simplified procedure the same level of protection as afforded to names registered in accordance with the normal procedure.

(see paras 53-55, 57, 68, operative part)

2. The reference date for the purposes of resolving, under Article 14(1) of Regulation No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs, a conflict between, on the one hand, a name validly registered as a protected geographical indication in accordance with the simplified procedure under Article 17 of Regulation No 2081/92 and, on the other hand, a trade mark corresponding to one of the situations referred to in Article 13 of that regulation relating to the same type of product, the application for registration of which was submitted both before the registration of that name and before the entry into force of Council Regulation No 692/2003 amending Regulation No 2081/92 is the date of the entry into force of the registration of that name.

The entry into force of the registration satisfies both the objectives of the reference date provided for in Article 14(1) of Regulation No 2081/92 and the general scheme of that regulation.

Whilst, in the context of the normal procedure, the reference date for the purposes of the abovementioned provision is established by reference to publication at Union level, such as the publication provided for in Article 6(2) of Regulation No 2081/92, which satisfies the requirements of the principle of legal certainty, in the context of the simplified procedure, the first time the names registered are published at Union level is when they are registered.

Given that national protection for the names to be registered in accordance with the simplified procedure was maintained until the date of registration, to establish the date of the entry into force of that registration as the reference date for those names for the purposes of the protection granted by Article 14(1) of Regulation No 2081/92 is consistent with the general scheme of the system introduced by that regulation. Moreover, in as much as the publication of the registration also includes the date of the entry into force of that registration, that publication satisfies the requirements of legal certainty too.

(see paras 60-66, 68, operative part)