Each Contracting Party shall protect registered appellations of origin and geographical indications on its territory, within its own legal system and practice but in accordance with the terms of this Act, subject to any refusal, renunciation, invalidation or cancellation that may become effective with respect to its territory, and on the understanding that Contracting Parties that do not distinguish in their national or regional legislation as between appellations of origin and geographical indications shall not be required to introduce such a distinction into their national or regional legislation.
[Form of Legal Protection] Each Contracting Party shall be free to choose the type of legislation under which it establishes the protection stipulated in this Act, provided that such legislation meets the substantive requirements of this Act.
(2)
[Protection Under Other Instruments] The provisions of this Act shall not in any way affect any other protection a Contracting Party may accord in respect of registered appellations of origin or registered geographical indications under its national or regional legislation, or under other international instruments.
(3)
[Relation to Other Instruments] Nothing in this Act shall derogate from any obligations that Contracting Parties have to each other under any other international instruments, nor shall it prejudice any rights that a Contracting Party has under any other international instruments.
[Content of Protection] Subject to the provisions of this Act, in respect of a registered appellation of origin or a registered geographical indication, each Contracting Party shall provide the legal means to prevent:
a)
use of the appellation of origin or the geographical indication
i)
in respect of goods of the same kind as those to which the appellation of origin or the geographical indication applies, not originating in the geographical area of origin or not complying with any other applicable requirements for using the appellation of origin or the geographical indication;
ii)
in respect of goods that are not of the same kind as those to which the appellation of origin or geographical indication applies or services, if such use would indicate or suggest a connection between those goods or services and the beneficiaries of the appellation of origin or the geographical indication, and would be likely to damage their interests, or, where applicable, because of the reputation of the appellation of origin or geographical indication in the Contracting Party concerned, such use would be likely to impair or dilute in an unfair manner, or take unfair advantage of, that reputation;
b)
any other practice liable to mislead consumers as to the true origin, provenance or nature of the goods.
(2)
[Content of Protection in Respect of Certain Uses] Paragraph (1)(a) shall also apply to use of the appellation of origin or geographical indication amounting to its imitation, even if the true origin of the goods is indicated, or if the appellation of origin or the geographical indication is used in translated form or is accompanied by terms such as ‘style’, ‘kind’, ‘type’, ‘make’, ‘imitation’, ‘method’, ‘as produced in’, ‘like’, ‘similar’ or the like1.
(1), a Contracting Party shall, ex officio if its legislation so permits or at the request of an interested party, refuse or invalidate the registration of a later trademark if use of the trademark would result in one of the situations covered by paragraph (1).
Subject to the provisions of this Act, registered appellations of origin and registered geographical indications cannot be considered to have become generic2 in a Contracting Party.
[Prior Trademark Rights] The provisions of this Act shall not prejudice a prior trademark applied for or registered in good faith, or acquired through use in good faith, in a Contracting Party. Where the law of a Contracting Party provides a limited exception to the rights conferred by a trademark to the effect that such a prior trademark in certain circumstances may not entitle its owner to prevent a registered appellation of origin or geographical indication from being granted protection or used in that Contracting Party, protection of the registered appellation of origin or geographical indication shall not limit the rights conferred by that trademark in any other way.
(2)
[Personal Name Used in Business] The provisions of this Act shall not prejudice the right of any person to use, in the course of trade, that person’s name or the name
(2): For the purposes of this Act, it is understood that where certain elements of the denomination or indication constituting the appellation of origin or geographical indication have a generic character in the Contracting Party of Origin, their protection under this paragraph shall not be required in the other Contracting Parties. For greater certainty, a refusal or invalidation of a trademark, or a finding of infringement, in the Contracting Parties under the terms of
is without prejudice to the application of the provisions of this Act concerning prior use, as, prior to international registration, the denomination or indication constituting the appellation of origin or geographical indication may already, in whole or in part, be generic in a Contracting Party other than the Contracting Party of Origin, for example, because the denomination or indication, or part of it, is identical with a term customary in common language as the common name of a good or service in such Contracting Party, or is identical with the customary name of a grape variety in such Contracting Party. of that person’s predecessor in business, except where such name is used in such a manner as to mislead the public.
3)
[Rights Based on a Plant Variety or Animal Breed Denomination] The provisions of this Act shall not prejudice the right of any person to use a plant variety or animal breed denomination in the course of trade, except where such plant variety or animal breed denomination is used in such a manner as to mislead the public.
(4)
[Safeguards in the Case of Notification of Withdrawal of Refusal or a Grant of Protection] Where a Contracting Party that has refused the effects of an international registration under
, the resulting protection of the appellation of origin or geographical indication shall not prejudice that right or its use, unless the protection was granted following the cancellation, non-renewal, revocation or invalidation of the right.
Each Contracting Party shall make available effective legal remedies for the protection of registered appellations of origin and registered geographical indications and provide that legal proceedings for ensuring their protection may be brought by a public authority or by any interested party, whether a natural person or a legal entity and whether public or private, depending on its legal system and practice.