Geographical Indications and Traditional Specialities (EU) - Relationship To Trade Mark Law

Relationship To Trade Mark Law

In principle, a similar protection to a geographical indication could be obtained through a collective trade mark. Indications which serve exclusively to identify the place of origin of goods are not registrable as trade marks under Art. 6quinquies.B.2 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention), which has effect in European Union law by Art. 7 of the Regulation on the Community trade mark (No 40/94) and by Art. 3 of the Directive to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (89/104/EEC): however marks which also serve to identify the quality of a product originating in a certain region may be registered so long as they have not become generic in the trade concerned. Trade marks which have been registered before the registration of a PDO or a PGI may continue to be used, but the registration of an equivalent trade mark after the approval of a PDO or PGI is impossible (Art. 13, Regulation (EC) No 510/2006). The existence of a trade mark (registered or unregistered) may be a reason to refuse the registration of a PDO or a PGI . Hence the Polish geographical designation "Herbal vodka from the North Podlasie Lowland aromatised with an extract of bison grass" or Wódka ziołowa z Niziny Północnopodlaskiej aromatyzowana ekstraktem z trawy żubrowej, so phrased as to avoid infringing the trade mark "Żubrówka".