Infringement of Protected Geographical Indications for Wine, Spirits, Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs in the European Union is a 40-page report published this month. Despite all the references to alcohol, it makes for sobering reading.

The report concludes:

This is the first study attempting to assess the dimension of GI infringements in the EU as a whole. It clearly indicates that the issue has a relevant dimension in terms of negative impact, corresponding to 9% of the total GI product market and valued at € 4.3 billion. EU consumers lose € 2.3 billion annually by paying a premium price for what they believe to be a genuine GI product while in fact they are victims of deception.

Given the very low number of GI-infringing products recorded by EU customs referred to above, it may be assumed that most of the infringements of GIs identified in this study originate primarily within the EU. There is, however, no concrete evidence or reliable data allowing one to identify precisely the origin of these infringing products. Compiling and analysing such data would shed further light on this issue.

The focus of this study was infringements of GIs (for wine, spirits, agricultural products and foodstuffs) protected as sui generis intellectual property rights in the EU marketplace. In the future, the study could to be extended to include the international aspect of EU GIs infringements in third countries. As the protection of GIs is expanded through, inter alia, bilateral trade agreements, it should become possible to expand the scope of this research by studying infringements at a more global level.

To read the report in full, click here.  For details of MARQUES's Geographical Indications Team and its activities, click here.