Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
This provision is footnoted to provide that Members may, with respect to these
obligations, provide for enforcement by administrative action.
2.65
Article 23.2 provides that the registration of a trade mark for wines or spirits
which contains or consists of a geographical indication 'shall be refused or
invalidated, ex officio if a Member's legislation so permits or at the request of an
interested party, with respect to such wines or spirits not having this origin'.
2.66
In EC - Trademarks and Geographical Indications the Panel found that Art 23.2
can resolve conflicts between GIs and later trade marks, but not prior trade
marks. 21
(b) Homonymous indications
Article 23.3 provides that in the case of homonymous GIs for wines, protection
shall be accorded to each indication, subject to the provisions of para 4 of Art
22, concerning false representations. The scope of this provision is limited to
homonymous GIs only for wines. Each Member is permitted by Art 23.3 to
'determine the practical conditions under which the homonymous indications
in question will be differentiated from each other, taking into account the need
to ensure equitable treatment of the producers concerned and that consumers
are not misled'.
2.67
2.68
Homonymous indications are those that are spelled and pronounced alike, but
which are different in meaning and which are used to designate the geographi-
cal origin of products stemming from different countries. For example, 'Rioja' is
the name of a region in Spain and in Argentina and the expression applies for
wines produced in both countries.
2.69
Conflicts typically arise where products on which homonymous GIs are used
are sold into the same market. The problem is accentuated where the homony-
mous GIs in question are used on identical products. Honest use of such GIs
should be possible, because the indications designate the true geographical
origin of the products on which they are used. However, concurrent use of
homonymous GIs in the same territory may be problematic where the products
on which a geographical indication is used have specific qualities and character-
istics which are absent from the products on which the homonym of that GI is
used. In this case, the use of the homonymous GI would be misleading, since
expectations concerning the quality of the products on which the homonymous
GI is used are not met.
21
Panel Reports, EC - Trademarks and Geographical Indications (US) , para 7.622, and (Australia) , para 7.622.
 
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