CELEX: C1999/121/12
Language: en
Date: 1999-05-01 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 4 March 1999 in Case C-87/97 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hadelsgericht Wien): Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola v. Käserei Champignon Hofmeister GmbH & Co. KG, Eduard Bracharz GmbH (Articles 30 and 36 of the EC Treaty - Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs)

1.5.1999                 EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                            C 121/7
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                        ORDER OF THE COURT
                           (Fifth Chamber)
                                                                                                   (Fourth Chamber)
                          of 4 March 1999
                                                                                                  of 11 February 1999
in Case C-87/97 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Handelsgericht Wien): Consorzio per la Tutela del
Formaggio Gorgonzola v. Käserei Champignon Hofmeis-                        in Case C-75/98 P: Mario Costacurta v. Commission of the
      ter GmbH & Co. KG, Eduard Bracharz GmbH (1)                                             European Communities (1)
(Articles 30 and 36 of the EC Treaty — Regulation (EEC)
No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications                   (Officials — Decision reassigning an official — Article 7 of
and designations of origin for agricultural products and                   the Staff Regulations — Annex X to the Staff Regulations
                              foodstuffs)                                       — Manifestly inadmissible and unfounded appeal)
                           (1999/C 121/12)                                                           (1999/C 121/13)
                   (Language of the case: German)
                                                                                               (Language of the case: French)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                           (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
In Case C-87/97: reference to the Court under Article 177 of                                  in the European Court Reports)
the EC Treaty by the Handelsgericht Wien (Austria), for a
preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
court between Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgon-                In Case C-75/98 P: Mario Costacurta, an official of the
zola and Käserei Champignon Hofmeister GmbH & Co. KG,                      Office for Official Publications of the European Communities,
Eduard Bracharz GmbH on the interpretation of Articles 30                  residing in Luxembourg, represented by Albert Rodesch, of the
and 36 of the EC Treaty — the Court (Fifth Chamber),                       Luxembourg Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg
composed of: J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), President of the               at the latter’s Chambers, 7-11 Route d’Esch — appeal against
Chamber, P. Jann, C. Gulmann, D. A. O. Edward and L.                       the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European
Sevón, Judges; Advocate-General: F.G. Jacobs; L. Hewlett,                 Communities (Third Chamber) of 22 January 1998 in Case
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 4                T-98/96 Costacurta v. Commission [1998] ECR-SC II-49,
March 1999, in which it held that:                                         seeking to have that judgment set aside, the other party to
                                                                           the proceedings being the Commission of the European
                                                                           Communities (Agent: Gianluigi Valsesia, assisted by Denis
In the present state of Community law, the principle of the free           Waelbroeck and Olivier Speltdoorn) — the Court (Fourth
movement of goods does not preclude Member States from taking the          Chamber ), composed of: P. J. G. Kapteyn, President of the
measures incumbent upon them in order to ensure the protection of          Chamber, H. Ragnemalm (Rapporteur) and K. M. Ioannou,
designations of origin registered under Council Regulation (EEC)           Judges; P. Léger, Advocate-General; R. Grass, Registrar, has
No 2081/92 of 14 July 1992 on the protection of geographical               made an order on 11 February 1999, the operative part of
indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and       which is as follows:
foodstuffs. Use of a name such as ‘Cambozola’ may therefore be
deemed, for the purposes of Article 13(1) (b) of that Regulation, to
evoke the protected designation of origin ‘Gorgonzola’, irrespective of
the fact that the packaging indicates the product’s true origin. It is
for the national court to decide whether, on the facts, the conditions
laid down in Article 14(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 allow            1. The appeal is dismissed.
use of an earlier trade mark to continue notwithstanding the
registration of the protected designation of origin ‘Gorgonzola’,
having regard in particular to the law in force at the time of             2. The appellant is to pay the costs.
registration could have been made in good faith, on the basis that use
of a name such as ‘Cambozola’ does not, per se, constitute an attempt
to deceive the consumer.
                                                                           (1) OJ C 166, 30.5.1998.
(1) OJ C 131, 26.4.1997.