Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
suspected of infringing certain intellectual property rights and the measures to
be taken against goods found to have infringed such rights.
Despite this significant recent European legislative activism on the subject of
GIs, it is to be expected that further legislation is in prospect, particularly in
relation to the protection of GIs for products outside the existing schemes. The
EU is currently engaged in trade negotiations with countries which have laws
which protect all GIs products. These countries, such as Brazil, India and
Thailand, have a significant interest in the protection of their non-agricultural
GIs products at the EU level beyond the community trade mark system. It is
perceived that the lack of a legal framework to protect these products could
hamper the ability of the EU to secure protection of EU agricultural and wine
and spirits products in these countries. At the same time, the EU is a leading
advocate of the extension of the additional protection in Article 23 of the
TRIPS Agreement for wines and spirits to agricultural products and handi-
crafts. This extension debate is examined in Chapter 2. An indication of the
EU's thoughts for the future is the publication by the European Commission in
2009 of a study on the protection of GIs for products other than wines, spirits,
agricultural products or foodstuffs. The Study analysed 28 non-agricultural
products enjoying protection in certain EU Member States and in non-EU
countries. It compared the protection systems available to these products and
analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the protection systems identified. On
22 March 2013 the Commission published an updated version of this study,
which was expected to 'feed into the Commission's on-going analysis of
whether action at EU level is required in this area' (Insight, 2013).
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B. HISTORY
The association between the unique qualities of goods and the geographical
place of their production explains the genesis of GIs as a vehicle for trade. The
international reputation of Toledo steel, Korean Celadon ware, Bruges lace and
Burgundy wines secured the access of those products to markets well beyond
their place of production. To take advantage of the commercial attractiveness of
these local reputations, merchants branded their goods with marks which
designated the place of origin of these products. These brands utilised depic-
tions of local animals (panda beer), land marks (Mt Fuji sake), buildings (Pisa
silk), heraldic signs (fleur de lys butter) or well-known local personalities
(Napoleon brandy, Mozart chocolates). In a preliterate society these signs
indicating the geographical origins of goods could be regarded as the earliest
types of trade mark as these brands were tantamount to a warranty of the quality
of goods.
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