IP/C/W/253 4 April 2001 ORGANIZATION (01-1700)
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WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/253 4 April 2001 ORGANIZATION (01-1700) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights REVIEW UNDER ARTICLE 24.2 OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT ON GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS SUMMARY OF THE RESPONSES TO THE CHECKLIST OF QUESTIONS (IP/C/13 AND ADD.1) Note by the Secretariat I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................4 II. OVERVIEW OF MEANS OF PROTECTION AVAILABLE.............................................5 A. LAWS FOCUSING ON BUSINESS PRACTICES .............................................................................6 B. TRADEMARK LAW ......................................................................................................................8 C. SPECIAL PROTECTION ........................................................................................................8 III. DEFINITIONS AND CRITERIA FOR RECOGNITION..................................................10 A. LAWS FOCUSING ON BUSINESS PRACTICES ...........................................................................10 B. TRADEMARK LAW ....................................................................................................................11 (a) Protection of IGOs as collective, guarantee or certification marks....................................11 (b) Protection of IGOs as individual trademarks.....................................................................12 C. SPECIAL PROTECTION..............................................................................................................12 (a) Need for prior recognition..................................................................................................13 (b) Main definitions used.........................................................................................................14 (c) Criteria employed to demarcate the area covered by an IGO ............................................15 (d) Origin requirements ...........................................................................................................18 (e) Characteristics of the product ............................................................................................19 (f) Link between characteristics and geographical origin .......................................................21 (g) Public knowledge...............................................................................................................21 (h) Generic terms and other factors justifying non-protection ................................................22 (i) Foreign IGOs......................................................................................................................22 (j) Homonymous IGOs ...........................................................................................................24 IV. PROCEDURES FOR RECOGNITION ...............................................................................26 A. LAWS FOCUSING ON BUSINESS PRACTICES ............................................................................26 IP/C/W/253 Page 2 B. TRADEMARK LAW ....................................................................................................................26 (a) Protection of IGOs as collective, guarantee or certification marks....................................26 (b) Protection as individual trademarks...................................................................................26 C. SPECIAL PROTECTION..............................................................................................................26 (a) Without procedures for the ex ante recognition of IGOs...................................................26 (b) With procedures for the ex ante recognition of IGOs ........................................................27 D. COSTS ......................................................................................................................................38 V. ELIGIBLE/AUTHORIZED USERS AND MONITORING...............................................41 A. LAWS FOCUSING ON BUSINESS PRACTICES ............................................................................41 B. TRADEMARK LAW ....................................................................................................................41 (a) Collective, guarantee or certification marks ......................................................................41 (b) Individual trademarks ........................................................................................................42 C. SPECIAL PROTECTION..............................................................................................................42 (a) IGOs protected without a recognition procedure 42 (b) IGOs protected with a recognition procedure 43 VI. PROTECTION AGAINST THOSE NOT ELIGIBLE/AUTHORIZED TO USE OR USING IMPROPERLY..................................................................................................48 A. LAWS FOCUSING ON BUSINESS PRACTICES ............................................................................48 B. TRADEMARK LAW ....................................................................................................................49 C. SPECIAL PROTECTION..............................................................................................................49 VII. ENFORCEMENT...................................................................................................................52 A. LAWS FOCUSING ON BUSINESS PRACTICES ...........................................................................52 (a) Persons entitled to initiate enforcement procedures...........................................................52 (b) Authorities responsible for enforcement proceedings........................................................54 (c) Remedies............................................................................................................................54 B. TRADEMARK LAW ....................................................................................................................55 (a) Protection of IGOs as collective, guarantee or certification marks....................................55 (b) Protection of IGOs as individual trademarks.....................................................................56 C. SPECIAL PROTECTION..............................................................................................................56 (a) Persons entitled to initiate enforcement procedures...........................................................56 (b) Authorities responsible for enforcement proceedings........................................................57 (c) Remedies............................................................................................................................58 (d) Foreign IGOs......................................................................................................................58 D. COSTS ......................................................................................................................................59 VIII. RELATIONSHIP TO TRADEMARKS ...............................................................................59 A. PROTECTION AGAINST REGISTRATION OF IGOs AS TRADEMARKS.....................................59 B. POSSIBLE CONFLICTS...............................................................................................................62 (a) Simultaneous applications..................................................................................................63 (b) Prior trademark rights ........................................................................................................63 IP/C/W/253 Page 3 ANNEX A: EXAMPLES OF IGOS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS............................................65 IN RESPONSE TO QUESTION 6 OF DOCUMENT IP/C/13 ANNEX B: SPECIAL DEFINITIONS OF IGOS........................................................................73 IP/C/W/253 Page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. This note has been prepared in response to the request of the TRIPS Council, at its meeting of 7-8 July 1999, to the Secretariat to prepare a paper summarizing the responses to the Checklist of Questions (IP/C/13 and IP/C/13/Add.1) on the basis of an outline contained in informal document No. 2104 of 13 April 1999, on the understanding that it would be made explicit that the paper would be without prejudice to the rights and obligations of Members and that its purpose was merely to facilitate an understanding of the more detailed information that had been provided in national responses to the Checklist. 2. The following are the Members which have responded to the Checklist and the documents in which their responses can be found: Australia IP/C/W/117/Add.19 Bulgaria IP/C/W/117/Add.2 Canada IP/C/W/117/Add.5 Czech Republic IP/C/W/117 Ecuador IP/C/W/117/Add.9 European Communities IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Austria IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Belgium IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Denmark IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Finland IP/C/W/117/Add.10 France IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Germany IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Greece IP/C/W/117/Add.10/Supp.2 Ireland IP/C/W/117/Add.10/Suppl.2 Italy IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Luxembourg IP/C/W/117/Add.10/Suppl.2 Netherlands IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Portugal IP/C/W/117/Add.10/Suppl.1 Spain IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Sweden IP/C/W/117/Add.10 United Kingdom IP/C/W/117/Add.10 Hong Kong, China IP/C/W/117/Add.21 Hungary IP/C/W/117/Add.8 Iceland IP/C/W/117/Add.15 and Suppl.1 Japan