The latest issue of EUIPO’s Alicante News includes an article titled “From food and wine to … textiles and crafts: a short history of GIs”.

The article is written by Professor Eleonora Rosati of Stockholm University. She states: “GIs are not just IP. They are also tools aimed at supporting the objective of traditional and rural development and address consumers’ growing demand for authenticity and sustainability.”

It traces the history of GI protection dating back to the regulation of the production of blue Roquefort cheese in France in 1411 through developments in the 1800s and 1900s.

Protections of indications of source or appellations of origin have also been spelt out in international treaties such as the Lisbon Agreement and TRIPS Agreement, and in trade agreements.

In the EU, Italy currently has the most registered GIs with nearly 900, and several cases concerning GIs have been decided by the CJEU.

Since 2020, GIs registered in Europe and beyond can be seen on GIview (see screenshot). It includes more than 5,200 GIs protected in the EU and more than has more than 40,000 worldwide entries.

MARQUES follows GI developments closely, thanks to the work of the GI Team. Team members monitor developments worldwide and prepare information and events for MARQUES members (including occasional “tastings” at MARQUES conferences!)

In spring this year, a legislative proposal to extend GI protection to textiles and crafts in the EU was published. 

Ortrun Günzel of df-mp Dörries Frank-Molnia & Pohlman in Germany, Chair of the GI Team, says: “There is a strong need for protecting non-agricultural products by means of a GI. We have long been waiting for the European Commission’s decision to extend GI protection and thus very much welcome this overdue legislative proposal.”