Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
submission to the Commission of the application for registration of the
PGI or PDO;
+
there are no grounds for its invalidity or revocation exist under the
Community trade mark Regulation
127
or under the Trade Marks Direct-
ive.
128
In such cases, the use of the PDO or PGI shall be permitted as well as use of the
relevant trade marks.
3.192
Kireeva (2009 at 203) suggests that the provision for coexistence of trade marks
with GIs in the previous foodstuffs Regulation was influenced by the conflict
between the 'MIGUEL TORRES' trade mark, which had had been registered
in Spain and used for wine for many years, and the Portuguese government's
designation of 'TORRES VEDRAS' as a geographical indication for wine.
129
Finally where there is a registered trade mark, Art 3(4) provides that a
designation of origin or GI shall not be registered where, 'in the light of a
trademark's reputation and renown and the length of time it has been used,
registration is liable to mislead the consumer as to the true identity of the
product'.
3.193
2. Case law
(a) 'CAMBOZOLA'
Case C-87/97
130
concerned an order sought by the Consorzio per la Tutela del
Formaggio Gorgonzola against Käserei Champignon Hofmeister GmbH &
Co. KG and Eduard Bracharz GmbH (Austria) to prohibit the marketing in
Austria of a blue cheese under the designation 'CAMBOZOLA' and requiring
cancellation of the 'CAMBOZOLA' trade mark. The applicant referred to Art
3 of the International Stresa Convention for the Use of Designations of Origin
and Names of Cheeses, which provided that only 'cheese manufactured or
matured in traditional regions, by virtue of local, loyal and uninterrupted usages'
could benefit from designations of origin governed by national legislation.
3.194
The ECJ ruled that the principle of free movement of goods did not preclude
Member States from taking the measures incumbent upon them in order to
3.195
127
Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trade mark, OJ L 11, 14.1.1994,
p. 1.
128
OJ L 40, 11.2.1989, p. 1.
129
Kireeva, 2009, at 203.
130
Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola v Käserei Champignon Hofmeister GmbH & Co. KG and Eduard
Bracharz GmbH
[1999] ECR I-1301.