A geographical indication (GI) is protected without requiring that the raw materials come from the geographical area. The protection is based on specific know-how and a reputation for quality. The Bordeaux Court of Appeals follows the line of the Court of Cassation on geographical indications. In the GI LINGE BASQUE,…

Conditions of protection for a PDO: clarification from the CJEU The CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union) issued an important decision on the conditions for protection of a PDO (protected designation of origin) on September 9, 2021. The Spanish Supreme Court had referred 4 questions to the CJEU…

A new Russian law forces French exporters to sell their products under the Cyrillic inscription “sparkling wine”. For more than 20 years now, France has been fighting for the defense of the Champagne appellation in countries that still refuse to recognize it: Russia, the United States, Haiti. Summer 2021, Russia…

The protection of protected designation of origine (PDO is often a source of complexity at the international level. The example of Gruyère cheese illustrates these difficulties perfectly. The French (defending the PGI Gruyère) and Swiss (defending the PDO Gruyère) unions are confronted with American protectionism. The intertwining of trademark law and…