European Commission refused to protect the rights to Russian brand Gzhel: what is the essence of the precedent?

In 2023, Russia joined the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. The Lisbon System creates an international legal mechanism for the protection of appellations of origin indicating the geographical origin of a number of goods (among them, for example, coffee, cheese, wine, ceramics, glass and cloth). It covers the States of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean — about 70 countries in total. The Geneva Act allows manufacturers of products with special quality due to their place of origin to obtain legal protection for them in several countries by submitting only one application to WIPO.

Gzhel was the first attempt by a Russian brand linked to its place of origin to obtain international registration under the Lisbon system. It was submitted by the owner of the exclusive right, LLC Gzhel — Art Workshops. Based on the submitted application, the participants of the Lisbon System had to make a decision on granting protection to the name within a year. The International Bureau of WIPO, guided by the provisions of the Geneva Act, entered Gzhel into the relevant international register. However, the EU Commission notified the International Bureau of WIPO that the protection of decorative and applied ceramics from Russia was denied. The refusal applies to the entire territory of the European Union. 

The commission's decision cites two reasons for the refusal. The first is technical: there is currently no protection of geographical indications designating handicrafts in the European Union. The second reason is the restrictive measures against Russia on intellectual property, adopted as part of the 14th package of sanctions.

What this decision means for Russian manufacturers was assessed by intellectual property experts in the comments for RBC.

The geographical indication itself, as an object of intellectual property rights, is just beginning to exist in the European office, says Sergey Zuykov, patent attorney and managing partner of Zuykov and partners. To date, the protection of geographical indications is available in each state separately, therefore, in order to obtain the rights to it, Gzhel had to apply to each individual country, Zuykov adds.

Source: RBC