The protection of GIs in internet domain names is an emerging issue where CCFN is working to preserve the rights of common name users. Currently, the EU is attempting to expand their monopolization campaign to online domains. CCFN seized upon the opportunity to describe this issue and the problems it creates for food producers around the world in an article with the World Trademark Review, a widely read global publication on trademark and related issues. Another area of CCFN concern is the EU proposal to expand protections to GIs used in ingredients of a dish. While this is a complex issue, the crux of the concern turns on the territoriality and the scope of protection offered – issues that are far from resolved. CCFN also used the article to raise broader concerns with the EU’s GI campaign in bilateral trade agreements.
Author: dcadmin
Strengthening Common Names Support in the Americas
Latin America faces a growing set of common food name challenges, driven by the EU’s monopolization campaign executed through local trade agreements. To address this, CCFN’s Executive Director traveled to Argentina and Uruguay in July and convened a meeting with key Mexican allies in August to foster greater collaboration in support of a level playing field. During these meetings, CCFN staff urged local allies to push back against the geographical indications advocated by the Europeans that harm CCFN member’s export opportunities.
EU Proposal on GIs and Sustainability (G/TBT/N/EU/895)
The European Commission published a proposal to revise geographical indications (GIs) legislation that provides producer groups with the opportunity to voluntarily include sustainability criteria going beyond the requirements for GI product specifications under EU law. The text also states that the Commission may adopt secondary legislation to define sustainability standards in different sectors.
While CCFN welcomes initiatives to improve sustainability, we believe that policy instruments of a horizontal nature are best suited to pursue that objective. In addition, the introduction of sustainability criteria for GIs will likely lead to new common name restrictions imposed on producers outside the EU. CCFN submitted comments in August providing the common name users’ perspective and calling for the right to use common names to be respected in the development of the final version of the law.
The notification can be accessed here.
Driving Policy Through INTA Involvement
CCFN continues in its work steering the International Trademark Association (INTA), the world’s leading voice on trademark topics. Subcommittee meetings continued in the third quarter with CCFN serving as a vocal participant in the GI Committee meeting, the Expansion & Monitoring Subcommittee and the Governance Subcommittee.
Most notably, under the Expansion and Monitoring Subcommittee, CCFN has taken the lead on the task of “Review of Geographical Indications Regimes in Free Trade Agreements” cross-checking the list INTA developed with the list of Free Trade Agreements in force in the WTO. From there, CCFN identified those FTAs with GI provisions with the aim of reviewing all the GI provisions in active FTAs. This process is being conducted under INTA’s board resolution on GIs in order to identify conflicts and also to press for harmonization in those FTAs – policies that will favor CCFN members.
U.S. Trade Representative Remarks on EU GI Abuses in Special 301 Report
ARLINGTON, VA — The Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) today welcomed the U.S. Trade Representative’s prioritization in this year’s Special 301 Report of the importance of preserving U.S. food and beverage producers’ market access rights in the face of persistent efforts by the European Union (EU) to misuse geographical indications (GIs) and create non-tariff barriers to trade in markets around the world. The report follows detailed comments on the global scale of various common name threats submitted in January by CCFN and supported by USDEC and NMPF.
This annual report outlines global challenges on intellectual property issues and describes in detail the European Union’s (EU) campaign to eliminate competition by restricting the use of common food and beverage terms, such as “parmesan,” “bologna” and “chateau.” The EU’s strategy, active in numerous countries around the world, erects unfair barriers to trade that negatively impact non-EU exporters relying on common food names, as illustrated by USTR’s report which noted, “As part of its trade agreement negotiations, the EU pressures trading partners to prevent any producer, except from those in certain EU regions, from using certain product names, such as fontina, gorgonzola, parmesan, asiago, or feta. This is despite the fact that these terms are the common names for products produced in countries around the world.”
“We whole-heartedly agree with USTR about the harm imposed by the EU’s deliberate restriction of generic food and beverage terms in markets around the world,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of CCFN. “USTR’s Special 301 report should serve as a foundation upon which the administration can build a more proactive and focused global campaign of its own to counteract the EU’s long running efforts. U.S. farmers and food producers, and others around the world, deserve the chance to compete fairly in export markets.”
“The U.S. government has accurately diagnosed the EU’s deliberate global strategy of cloaking nontariff trade barriers as ‘GIs’ so that it doesn’t have to compete head-to-head in common product categories with U.S. food producers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “By deploying all of the tools at its disposal, including use of existing U.S. FTAs, the upcoming IPEF talks and TIFAs, the administration can take strong action to establish concrete market access protections with our trading partners around the world. The time for this is now and we stand ready to support those proactive efforts on behalf of American farmers.”
“Because we export the equivalent of 17% of U.S. milk production, trade barriers like bans on the use of common cheese names have profound consequences for the entire American dairy industry, from the many small and medium-sized family-owned companies to farmer-owned cooperatives and the workers employed there,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “U.S. dairy farmers and cheesemakers only want a fair shot at sharing their high-quality, sustainably produced products with consumers around the globe. By doubling down on combating global restrictions on the sale of common name products, USTR can defend opportunities for American-made products internationally and the jobs they support here at home.”
CONTACTS:
Tony Rice, CCFN: (703) 469-2375
Mark O’Keefe, USDEC: (703) 528-4812
Theresa Sweeney-Murphy, NMPF: (559) 553-5895
Judge Rules “Gruyere” is a Common Food Name and Not a Term Exclusive to Europe
ARLINGTON, VA – A judicial ruling has determined that “gruyere” is a generic style of cheese that can come from anywhere. The decision reaffirms that all cheesemakers, not just those in France or Switzerland, can continue to create and market cheese under this common name.
In the judicial decision made public yesterday evening, the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), and a coalition of other dairy stakeholders prevailed in their sustained fight to preserve the ability of all actors in the U.S. marketplace to use generic terms.
Senior Judge T. S. Ellis III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the August 5, 2020, precedential decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
“Not only is this a landmark victory for American dairy farmers and cheese producers who offer gruyere, this win sets a vital precedent in the much larger, ongoing battle over food names in the United States,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director for CCFN. “The European Union has tried for years to monopolize common names such as gruyere, parmesan, bologna or chateau. This verdict validates that we’re on the right path in our fight on behalf of American food and wine producers to preserve their ability to use long-established generic names.”
According to the Court’s decision, the arguments of the French and Swiss associations were “insufficient and unconvincing” and CCFN presented “overwhelming evidence that cheese purchasers in the United States understand the term GRUYERE to be a generic term which refers to a type of cheese without restriction as to where that cheese is produced.”
Meanwhile, Europe continues its aggressive and predatory efforts to confiscate names that entered the public domain decades ago. The latest attack was launched by the French and Swiss gruyere associations which had sought to register “Gruyere” as a certification mark in the United States, thereby enabling them to prevent use of the generic term by others in the U.S. marketplace. The USPTO determined last year that the application should be denied, in the process upholding the widespread generic use in the U.S. of the term “gruyere.”
“French and Swiss gruyere producers already have access to the U.S. market and the use of distinctive trademark logos,” noted Castaneda. “In fact, the Swiss association has already registered a logo certification mark with the USPTO for ‘Le Gruyère Switzerland AOC’ to help it uniquely brand Swiss gruyere. Despite this, both foreign associations appealed the USPTO’s ruling to the federal court last year.”
With support from USDEC and NMPF, their member companies, and non-member companies that contributed to supporting the opposition, CCFN dedicated extensive time and resources throughout the appeal process to demonstrate the extensive use of gruyere in the U.S. marketplace and persuasively argue that all cheesemakers and their customers should retain their rights to continue to produce and sell gruyere in the United States.
“This is a huge victory for common sense and for hard-working manufacturers and dairy farmers,” said Krysta Harden, USDEC president and CEO. “When a word is used by multiple companies in multiple stores and restaurants every day for years, as gruyere has been, that word is generic, and no one owns the exclusive right to use it. We are gratified that Judge Ellis saw this straightforward situation so clearly and upheld the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that gruyere is an established generic term.”
“NMPF continues to firmly oppose any attempt to monopolize generic names like gruyere and to reject blatant European market-share grabs designed to limit competition,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF president and CEO. “Today’s announcement is a landmark win for American dairy farmers and the commonly named cheeses they produce and sell around the world.”
CCFN, USDEC, and NMPF support valid geographical indications (GIs) – compound names associated with specialized foods from regions throughout the world – when used in good faith rather than to establish unfair trade barriers to the sale of common name foods and beverages.