Case NotesProtection of Geographic Indications and Designations of Origin in theQueso Manchego Case

摘要

Case Judgment of the CJEU (Fourth Chamber) of 2 May 2019 in Case C-614/17 Fundacion Consejo Regulador de la Denominacion de Origen Protegida Queso Manchego v Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL, Juan Ramon Cuquerella Montagud.Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) again decides on the extent of the scope of protection for geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs and confirms that the ban of any misuse, imitation or evocation shall be interpreted very widely1. Article i3(i)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 of 20 March 2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs must be interpreted as meaning that a registered name may be evoked through the use of figurative signs.2. Article i3(i)(b) of Regulation No 510/2006 must be interpreted as meaning that the use of figurative signs evoking the geographical area with which a designation of origin, as referred to in Article 2(i)(a) of that regulation, is associated may constitute evocation of that designation, including where such figurative signs are used by a producer established in that region, but whose products, similar or comparable to those protected by the designation of origin, are not covered by it.3. The concept of the average consumer who is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, to whose perception the national court has to refer in order to assess whether there is 'evocation' within the meaning of Article i^(i)(b) ofRegulation No 510/2006, must be understood as covering European consumers, including consumers of the Member State in which the product giving rise to evocation of the protected name is made or with which that name is geographically associated and in which the product is mainly consumed.