Linking traditional and local products to a specific area is
increasingly felt as a necessity in a globalised market, and
Geographical Indications (GIs) are emerging as a multifunctional tool
capable of performing this and many other functions. This book analyses
the evolving nature of EU sui generis GIs by focusing on their key
element, the origin link, and concludes that the history of the product
in the broad sense has become a major factor to prove the link between a
good and a specific place.
For the first time, this area of Intellectual Property Law is
investigated from three different, although interrelated, perspectives:
the history and comparative assessment of the systems of protection of
Indications of Geographical Origin adopted in the European jurisdictions
from the beginning of the 20th century; the empirical analysis of the
trends emerging from the practice of EUGIs; and the policy debates
surrounding them and their importance for the fulfilment of the general
goals of the EU Common Agricultural Policy. The result is an innovative
and rounded analysis of the very nature of the EU Law of GIs that,
starting from its past, investigates the present and the likely future
of this Intellectual Property Right.
This book provides an interesting and innovative contribution to the
field and will be of interest to GI scholars and Intellectual Property
students, as well as anyone willing to gain a better understanding of
this compelling area of law.