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Home | News | Food manufacturers to use trademarks to highlight authenticity
Food manufacturers to use trademarks to highlight authenticity
Friday, 28 November 2003An increasing number of food and drink manufacturers are seeking to trademark terms and names relating to specific types of produce, particularly those linked to regional areas.
Common names such as Champagne, Cognac and Parmesan are among those that producers are attempting to claim as trademarks, in a bid to secure control over their global usage.
The latest case in this trend is that of grappa wine, a product that Italian producers argue is distinctly Italian. The wine is produced in a number of countries under the same name.
Despite the fact that many argue grappa does not relate to a specific place name, representatives of Italy's National Grappa Institute insist that it should be exclusive to Italian producers:
I underline its Italian-ness, comments Luigi Belentani, sales manager at wine distillery Bonollo, according to AZCentral. This Italian-ness is even in the name. 'Grappa is an Italian name, not a name in any non-Italian language.
The European union has made efforts to protect the grappa name, identifying seven different types of grappa connected to various Italian locales, and recognising the term as a protected Italian product under a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on intellectual property.
In the future, non-Italian producers of grappa wine may not be granted permission to describe it specifically as grappa, as a result of these developments.
Common names such as Champagne, Cognac and Parmesan are among those that producers are attempting to claim as trademarks, in a bid to secure control over their global usage.
The latest case in this trend is that of grappa wine, a product that Italian producers argue is distinctly Italian. The wine is produced in a number of countries under the same name.
Despite the fact that many argue grappa does not relate to a specific place name, representatives of Italy's National Grappa Institute insist that it should be exclusive to Italian producers:
I underline its Italian-ness, comments Luigi Belentani, sales manager at wine distillery Bonollo, according to AZCentral. This Italian-ness is even in the name. 'Grappa is an Italian name, not a name in any non-Italian language.
The European union has made efforts to protect the grappa name, identifying seven different types of grappa connected to various Italian locales, and recognising the term as a protected Italian product under a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on intellectual property.
In the future, non-Italian producers of grappa wine may not be granted permission to describe it specifically as grappa, as a result of these developments.