Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Law and Economics pp 1–7Cite as

Geographical Indications

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 152 Accesses

Definition

The issues at hand. Geographical indications (GIs) are signs (or symbols) used in connection with the sale of goods which convey an association, direct or indirect, with a place or location, which may be relevant for certain features of the good in question.

Rules concerning GIs may be found both at the municipal (or domestic) level and in international agreements. The international framework for dealing with GIs is to be found in the 1883 Paris Convention, in the 1891 Madrid Arrangement and in the 1958 Lisbon agreement. After the adoption by the European Union of the sui generis regime for GIs and designations of origin in 1992, a multilateral equilibrium was found in the 1994 TRIPs agreement.

When the same geographical symbol is used simultaneously by many businesses, a number of issues arise which may be dealt with in several ways. The different alternatives are discussed hereafter along with the reasons which may dictate the choice among them. They all rely, however, on...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Belson J (2002) Certification marks, special report. Sweet & Maxwell, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuccia T, Santagata W (2004) Collective property rights for economic development: the case of the ceramic cultural district in Caltagirone, Sicily. In: Colombatto E (ed) The Elgar companion to the economics of property rights. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 473 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulhaber LV (2005) Cured meat and Idaho potatoes: a comparative analysis of European and American protection and enforcement of geographic indications of foodstuffs. Columbia J Eur Law 11:623 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Gervais D (1998) The TRIPs Agreement. Drafting history and analysis. Sweet & Maxwell, London, p 119

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor B (2004) The legal protection of geographical indications. Intellect Prop Q 1:35

    Google Scholar 

  • Pires de Carvalho N (2006) The TRIPs regime of trademarks and designs. Wolters-Kluwer, The Hague, 214 ff. and 369 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Rangel-Ortiz H (2014) Patent and trademark rights in commercial agreements entered by the United States with Latin American nations in the first decade of the twenty-first century: Divide et vinces. In: Ghidini G, Peritz JR, Ricolfi M (eds) TRIPs and developing countries. Towards a new IP world order. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 72 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricolfi M (2009a) Geographical symbols in intellectual property law: the policy options. In: Festschrift für Ulrich Loewenheim zum 75. Geburstag, Schutz von Kreativität und Wettbewerb. Verlag Beck, Munich, 231 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricolfi M (2009b) Is the European GI policy in need of rethinking? IIC 40:123 f

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarti D (2011) Il marchio collettivo. In: Ubertazzi LC (ed) La proprietà intellettuale. In: Trattato di diritto privato dell’Unione europea directed by G. Ajani and G.A. Benacchio, vol XI. Giappichelli, Torino, 131 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Spada P (1996) Il marchio collettivo “privato” tra distinzione e certificazione. In: Scritti in onore di G. Minervini, vol II, Impresa, concorrenza, procedure concorsuali. Morano, Napoli, 475 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Caenegem W (2004) Registered GIs: intellectual property, agricultural policy and international trade. Eur Intellect Prop Rev 26:170 ff

    Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Auteri P (2010) Indicazioni geografiche, disciplina delle pratiche commerciali scorrette e concorrenza sleale. In: Studi in memoria di Paola A.E. Frassi. Giuffrè, Milano, 23 ss

    Google Scholar 

  • Blakeney M (2014) The protection of geographical indications. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Echols MA (2003) Geographical indications for food, TRIPs and the Doha development agenda. J Afr Law 47:199 ff

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gangjee D (2012) Relocating the law of geographical indications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goebel B, Groeschl M (2014) The long road to resolving conflicts between trademarks and geographical indications. TMR 104:829 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Knaak R (2015) Geographical indications and their relations with trade marks in EU law. ICC 46:843 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Libertini M (2010) L’informazione sull’origine dei prodotti nella disciplina comunitaria. Riv Dirit Ind I:289 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantrov V (2014) EU law on indications of geographical origin: theory and practice. Springer, Cham

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ricolfi M (2015) Trattato dei marchi. Diritto europeo e nazionale, vol 2. Giappichelli, Torino, 1754 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarti D (2009) Segni e garanzie di qualità. In: Ubertazzi B, Muñiz Espada E (eds) Le indicazioni di qualità degli alimenti. Giuffrè, Milano, 113 ss

    Google Scholar 

  • Sironi GE (2014) Marchi collettivi. In: Scuffi M, Franzosi M (eds) Diritto industriale italiano, vol 1, Diritto sostanziale. CEDAM, Padova, 312 ff

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosato A (2013) The protection of traditional foods in the EU: traditional specialties guaranteed. Eur Law J 19:545 ff

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Legal Studies, Department of Law, Turin University, Turin, Italy

    Marco Ricolfi

Authors
  1. Marco Ricolfi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Ricolfi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  2. Dept DiGSPES, Univ del Piemonte Orientale Dept DiGSPES, Alessandria, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Ricolfi, M. (2018). Geographical Indications. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_192-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_192-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation