Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
international significance of appellations of origin prevented their misuse, even
in an apparently innocuous context.
4. Geographical marks and product processing
6.180
The Scottish passing off case
Argyllshire Weavers v Macauley
191
discussed an
issue which has been raised in a number of European GIs cases, namely
whether the place of processing is part of the protectable reputation of a
product. The defendants in the case were a London-based company which had
used the words 'Harris Tweed' in its advertising for cloth made from pure virgin
Scottish wool in the Islands of Harris and Lewis and the adjacent islands of the
Outer Hebrides for a period exceeding 25 years. The plaintiffs claimed that all
the cloth-making processes, including dyeing, spinning, hand weaving and
finishing, had to be carried out in the Outer Hebrides.
192
6.181
In
Scotch Whisky Association v Glen Kella Distillers Ltd
193
the plaintiff trade
association, whose members included the majority of the makers of the leading
brands of Scotch whisky, brought an action in the High Court objecting to the
sale by the defendant of a drink known as 'Glen Kella', which was called 'white
whisky' and which was made by the re-distilling of matured and blended Scotch
whisky in the Isle of Man. The plaintiffs contended that Glen Kella was not
whisky by reason of the fact that it was not matured after distillation and
accordingly, its sale as whisky was in breach of Art 1(4)(b) of Council Regu-
lation (EEC) No 1576/89 of 29 May 1989 laying down general rules on the
definition, description and presentation of spirit drinks,
194
which required that
the 'spirit drink' concerned should have undergone a process of maturation for
at least three years in wooden casks after its production as a liquid by distillation
and that the sale of Glen Kella under the name 'whisky' amounted to passing
off.
6.182
Rattee J upheld the passing off claim as there was a real risk of damage if the
defendant were allowed to continue to call its product 'whisky' when it was not,
the damage being an insidious erosion of the reputation or 'aura' of true whisky
in the minds of potential consumers.
191
[1962] ScotCS CSIH_2 1962 SLT 310, 1962 SC 388, [1962].
192
Macaulay (A.) (Tweeds) Limited v Independent Harris Tweed Producers Limited
[1961] Patent Cases Reports,
Part 8, p. 184.
193
[1997] ETMR 470.
194
OJ 1989 L 160, p. 1
(no longer in force).
