The image of Don Quijote may only be used on the labels of “queso Manchego” with denomination of origin.

27.05.2019

The Queso Manchego Foundation in charge of the management and protection of the PDO ‘queso manchego’ filed a claim against the labels used by IQC to identify and market the cheese ‘Adarga de Oro’, ‘Super Rocinante’ and ‘Rocinante’, which are not covered by the PDO ‘queso manchego’, and the use of the words ‘Quesos Rocinante’ infringe the PDO ‘queso manchego’ because those labels and those words constitute an unlawful evocation of that PDO for the purpose of Article 13(1)(b) of Regulation No 510/2006.

Both in the first and second instance, the Spanish courts considered that the signs and names used by the company evoke the region of La Mancha, but not necessarily the "queso Manchego ", protected by the PDO.

Thus, during the appeal, the Spanish Supreme Court decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:

  1. “Must the evocation of a [PDO], prohibited by Article 13(1)(b) of Regulation No 510/2006, necessarily arise by the use of a name visually, phonetically or conceptually similar to the [PDO] or may it be brought about by the use of figurative signs evoking the [PDO]?

  2. When the [PDO] is of a geographical nature (Article 2(1)(a) of Regulation No 510/2006) and when the products are the same or comparable, can the use of signs evoking the region with which a [PDO] is associated constitute evocation of the [PDO] itself, within the meaning of Article 13(1)(b) of Regulation No 510/2006, which is prohibited even when the user of those signs is a producer established in the region associated with the [PDO], but whose products are not protected by [that PDO] because they do not meet the requirements set out in the product specification, apart from the geographical provenance?

  3. Must 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 13(1)(b) of Regulation No 510/2006, be understood to cover European consumers or can it cover only consumers of the Member State in which the product giving rise to evocation of the protected geographical indication is produced or with which the PDO is geographically associated and in which the product is mainly consumed?”

On those grounds, on 2 May 2019 the Court (Fourth Chamber) found that:

  1. “Article 13(1)(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 13(1)(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(1)(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 13(1)(b) of Regulation 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.”

Written by: Cristina García Alzina

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_cyclonebill_-_Manchego.jpg

Source: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=queso%2Bmanchego&docid=213589&pageIndex=0&doclang=ES&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=6382672#ctx1



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