FINNISH SPIRITS PRODUCER CANNOT USE ‘COGNAC’NAME ON LABELS SAYS ECJ
July 1st, 2011
BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Union (EU) robustly protects traditional drink product names, so a Finnish brandy maker took risks when using the name Cognac on its bottles. These were made clear today (July 14), when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) annulled Gust. Ranin Oy's Finland registration of two figurative bottle label trademarks containing the term 'Cognac' and its Finnish translation, 'konjakki'. Judges said this was a clear breach of EU regulation (EC) No 110/2008 on spirits geographical indications, which underpins a detailed rule saying Cognac must ...
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