The designation of origin as an industrial property right 🖊
As lawyers specialized in INDUSTRIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, within our different services we offer a complete consultancy within the field of denominations of origin. This instrument is used to protect different food or beverage products through a reference that their own place of origin confers.
On the market, the fact that a product has a designation of origin means that it has a series of specific quality guarantees. In this section, the work of our team of INDUSTRIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY lawyers plays a very important role within the legal system for the protection of agricultural and food products and spirits..
The concept of designations of origin is close to that of collective and guarantee marks. Alongside the instrument of designations of origin, there is the so-called protected geographical indications, which also cover a more varied range of products.
Geographical designations are responsible for distinguishing a place on the map where the product originates and protects it within certain guarantees. It is now important to have a framework that protects these instruments of protection. Designations of origin and geographical indications have the possibility of being entered in the Community register. This is in line with a common objective of facilitating the development of these proposals and ensuring fair competition between the producers themselves who use this designation
The characteristics that wine and agricultural products or foodstuffs must have in order to be protected under the Protected Designation of Origin or a Protected Geographical Indication are set out in articles 34 of Regulation (EC) 479/2008 and article 5 of Regulation (EU) 1151/2012.
There are differences between the Designation of Origin and the Protected Geographical Indication, but the main difference between the two is that they have two major requirements for compliance.
For the PDO it is necessary that the inherent quality of the product is generated by the environment itself, that is to say, the natural or human factors that are found at that point in the map must give it that unique quality that makes it worthy of that mention. On the other hand, however, the PGI can be recognized by having a particular quality or by being attributable to the geographical origin. Therefore, the concept of a protected geographical indication is broader, since, unlike the designation of origin, it allows for stages in the production of the product to be carried out beyond the geographical area mentioned.
If you find yourself in litigation related to problems with designations of origin or protected geographical indications, do not hesitate to contact our firm of lawyers specialized in INDUSTRIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, as we can offer you comprehensive advice within this field.
