Geographical Indications in the EU, China and Australia, WTO Case Bottling Up Over Prosecco

The EU is ferociously protecting its Geographical Indications (GIs) in the name of authenticity and rural development. Not only in the countries of the EU, but internationally. Australia and most other New World countries protect geographical names via their trademark system, but also via a sui generis system. This Article is looking at the approaches of the protection of geographical names in the respective systems and on the strategies vintners use to exclude each other in the People's Republic of China (China), where there is a “gold rush” to export as much wine as possible. Section 1 provides an introduction to the concept of GIs; Section 2 gives the Old World approach: registration of Appellations of Origin and Section 3 the New World approach: Protection of wine GIs via Trademarks and sui generis systems; Section 4 covers international GI treaties; Section 5 deals with China's GI system; Section 6 will discuss the bilateral agreements on GIs between the EU and China; Section 7 uses Prosecco as a case study, where Italy and the EU try to “transubstantiate” a grape into a GI; Section 8 provides the conclusion