Czech bakery TM rejected over champagne complaint
A Czech bakery has been blocked from registering an EU trademark because it is too similar to ‘champagne’.
The decision comes from the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) fourth board of appeal, which ruled that a lower EUIPO panel had incorrectly dismissed a complaint from the French champagne industry association.
Champagne is protected in the EU as a protected designation of origin (PDO). This means that any product labelled as champagne must originate from the designated Champagne region in France.
Breadway, based in Prague, filed to register ‘Champagnola’ as a EU trademark in 2017, covering bakeries and bread products.
The French body with responsibility for the ‘champagne’ PDO, the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC), filed an opposition at the EUIPO.
The EUIPO section responsible for dealing with trademark oppositions initially dismissed the CIVC’s complaint on the grounds that the public would not draw any assumptions from the ‘Champagnola’ name about the origin of the bread products.
But an EUIPO appeals board has now overturned that decision in favour of the CIVC.
The opposition division had previously held that the Breadway mark did not evoke champagne products, but the appeals board said this reasoning was incorrect.
When dealing with PDOs and GIs, ‘evocation’ is to do with the region where the goods are produced, the appeals board said.
“The ‘evocation’ must be one regarding the geographic region mentioned in the PDO … This is the case as there is no other interpretation of ‘Champagnola’ possible than being linked with the geographic region ‘Champagne,” the decision said.
“The mistake of the contested decision was to link the term ‘evocation’ with a comparison of the goods and services,” it added.
According to the appeals board, ‘champagnola’ was obviously a derivative of the word ‘champagne’, and that “no other conclusion will be readily possible for the average consumer”.
Breadway’s trademark application has now been rejected, and the Czech company must pay costs of €1,890 ($2047).
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