The 'consortium of generic food names' – established in the USA to counter those that instead protect Geographical Indications (GIs, e.g. PDO and PGI) – tried to register in Chile the trademarks Parmesan, Asiago and Mortadella of Bologna.
An Italian MEP has requested the immediate intervention of the European Commission, receiving initial responses. The counterfeiting of European GIs remains an unresolved problem, as this case itself confirms.
Chile, trademark registration application Parmesan, Asiago and Mortadella of Bologna
The Lega MEP Gianantonio Da Re addressed the European Commission on 24.8.21 to report the publication, in the Chilean Official Gazette, of the applications of the US Consortium CCFN (Consortium of Common Food Names ). The reckless lobby of the US industrial giants, Kraft foremost, tries once again to register the trademarks Parmesan, Asiago and Bologna.
The parliamentary question in Brussels served to denounce the above, but above all to urge a swift intervention by the Union executive. With the further request to protect European GIs and Made in Italy in the negotiations on free trade agreements with the EU trading partners. Starting with the ongoing talks for the modernization of the EU-Chile Association Agreement. (1)
Protection of Italian PDO and PGI in Chile, the Commission's feedback
The European Commission – through the voice of the Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski (Poland) – responded to the requests of the Italian MEP on 28.9.21, in the following terms.
‘1. The Commission, once it became aware of these three trademark registration applications, acted swiftly to inform the relevant producer associations as well as the competent national authorities, and invited them to consider the possibility of submitting a formal opposition according to the procedures provided by Chilean intellectual property law.
2. The protection Of the main geographical indications (GIs) of the EU for agri-food products is a fundamental priority for the Commission in the ongoing negotiations for the modernization of the EU-Chile Association Agreement. In this context, the Commission has repeatedly stressed, and will continue to do so, that it aims to protect GIs such as “Asiago,” “Mortadella di Bologna,” and “Parmigiano Reggiano,” among other key EU GIs, within the framework of a modernized EU-Chile Association Agreement. It has also expressed serious concerns about applications forbad-faith trademark, which would undermine the protection of EU GIs.’ (2)
Geographical Indications (GIs), export and free trade agreements
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski also stressed Brussels' attention towards the protection of GIs within free trade agreements. However, with a selective approach, as is now clear.
‘3. The Commission is well aware of the high socioeconomic value of GIs for the European Union as a whole. EU GIs of agri-food products and beverages represent a sales value of 74.76 billion euros, according to a study published by the Commission in 2020. More than a fifth of this amount comes from exports outside the European Union.
Therefore, the Commission attaches great importance to the international protection of GIs, as intellectual property rights, particularly in the negotiations for EU trade agreements. This includes setting strong rules for the protection and enforcement of such rights, especially against counterfeiting.’ (2)
The lobby USA of counterfeiters. The precedents
The Consortium of Common Food Names (CCFN) presents itself as ‘an international initiative to maintain the right to use generic names in the food sector’. The historic battle of CCFN aims to affirm the possibility of using the name Parmesan, or similar, to designate any cheese or pseudo-cheese product, including the ‘typical’ ones from the stars and stripes with various additives and even cellulose.
The counterfeiters' battle has already been won in the CETA and JEFTA agreements, with Canada and Japan respectively, thanks to the liberal complacency of the Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker. And it will certainly be won in the TTIP, the treaty with the United States where the lobby of the counterfeiters is based.
Industrial property and authenticity guarantees
The vulgarization of the name Parmesan and similar, like those of Asiago and Bologna, will obviously weaken the original trademarks to the point of causing them to collapse within the same, broader regime of intellectual property rights protection (Trade Related Intellectual Property Agreement, TRIP).
The only guarantee of authenticity of traditional or in any case characteristic products of supply chains and territories, in perspective, remains in fact the incorruptible and disintermediated technology of the sole systems of blockchain public. Without deluding oneself in the promises of politicians serving different interests.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Priority question with written response requested by MEP Gianantonio Da Re (Lega, ID political group, Identity and Democracy) to the Commission, 24.8.21. P-003938/2021
(2) Reply of the Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to the parliamentary question mentioned in note 1, 28.9.21. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-9-2021-003938_EN.html
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
