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conferred initially by Italian legislation and subsequently by Regulation No
2081/92.
73
The Court therefore ruled that the changes in the Italian legal
context indicated that the name 'grana' was not generic.
74
(c) 'BAYERISCHES BIER'
In Case C-343/07,
Bavaria and Bavaria Italia
75
it was argued that that the
name 'BAYERISCHES BIER' was a 'generic name' within the meaning of Arts
3(1) and 17(2) of Regulation No 2081/92 because of the national application
since 1906 of the Law on beer purity of 1516 ('Reinheitsgebot') and the
international spread of the Bavarian bottom-fermentation brewing method in
the course of the nineteenth century. It was also argued that the word 'Bayer-
isches' or translations of it were used as synonyms for 'beer' in at least three
Member States (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) and as synonyms for the
Bavarian bottom-fermentation brewing method in names, trade marks and
labels of commercial companies the world over, including in Germany. The
ECJ observed that it must be borne in mind that when assessing the generic
character of a name, it is necessary, under Art 3(1) of Regulation No 2081/92, to
take into account the places of production of the product concerned both inside
and outside the Member State which obtained the registration of the name at
issue, the consumption of that product and how it is perceived by consumers
inside and outside that Member State, the existence of national legislation
specifically relating to that product, and the way in which the name has been
used in Community law.
76
3.95
3.96
The ECJ did not consider that the evidence as it was presented established
genericity. It stated that as regards a PGI:
a name becomes generic only if the direct link between, on the one hand, the
geographical origin of the product and, on the other hand, a specific quality of that
product, its reputation or another characteristic of the product, attributable to that
origin, has disappeared, and that the name does no more than describe a style or type of
product.
77
3.97
In the present case, the Community institutions had found that the PGI
'BAYERISCHES BIER' had not become generic and the ECJ added that the
existence between 1960 and 1970 of the collective marks 'BAYRISCH BIER'
and 'BAYERISCHES BIER' and of five different bilateral agreements relating
73
Ibid, at para 78.
74
Ibid.
75
[2009] ECR I-5491.
76
Ibid, at para 101, citing Case C-132/05
Commission v Federal Republic of Germany
[2008] ECR I-957; [2008]
ETMR 32, para 53.
77
Ibid, at para 107.
