|
|
After five years, the EU Intellectual Property Office (Euipo) has ruled in favour of the Bolgheri wine protection consortium in the name dispute against the Bulgarian winery Domaine Boyar. In 2017, the company from Sofia had applied for the registration of the trademark "Bolgaré", to which the Tuscan consortium responded with an objection. Now, because of the strong similarity of the two names, the Office has confirmed the risk that consumers might mistakenly associate the Italian name with the Bulgarian mark. It pointed out that protected designations of origin had to be safeguarded against any kind of allusion, as had already been done in the Champagne v Champanillo case.
This is not only a victory for the Bolgheri appellation, but for the whole Made in Italy as well as the European designation system, which will certainly emerge stronger from this decision, said Albiera Antinori, president of the Bolgheri Consortium.
(ru / Source: WineNews; Photo: 123rf.com)