Geographical indications in the European Union (Update on EU initiatives, Case law from the Court of Justice)

Objective:

This conference aims at keeping legal practitioners up-to-date by providing an overview of the latest legislative initiatives and case law in this field.

 Key topics

 Update on EU initiatives

• EU trade policy on geographical indications

• The modifications brought by Regulation 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agriculture products and foodstuffs

• Implication of the reform of the trade mark system for geographical indications

• Extending the scope of protection to non-agriculture products

• The registration of geographical indications as collective marks and as certification marks.

 Case law from the Court of Justice

• Registering a geographical location as a trade mark 

• The “bud Saga”: recent clarifications brought by the General Court on the conflict between earlier geographical indications versus trade marks (Cases T- 225/06 and T-257/06)

• Protection of signs or expressions referring to non protected geographical indications: Basmali v basmati and the UK concept of passing off ( T-304/09).

 Enforcement of rights

• Protection against misuse of protected geographical names.

Language regime: English

IMPORTANT: All those who had participated on the event are obliged to upload REPORT from this event within 30 days after their return and no later than 31 December 2014. The report may be written in Slovak or English language.