Now Americans can stop w(h)ining

The IPKat must have been sleeping on the job. Kitaspsun reports that last week Napa Valley Vintners, which represents the wine makers of California’s Napa Valley, was awarded EU geographical indication status. The move is particularly significant because this is the first European geographical indication to be granted to an undertaking situated outside the EU. Formerly, European GIs were only granted to undertakings situated in the EU, but the EU was forced to change this following an adverse WTO decision. The vintners are happy that they will now be able to take action against Clos du Napa in the United Kingdom and Varon du Napa in Spain and say that they next plan to target China.

The IPKat is generally happy at this development. If European GIs are worth protecting then there can be no principled reason why extra-European GIs should not benefit from similar protection. He wonders though what will happen to those European who have an established usage of extra-European terms which, at the time use began, would not have infringed because the terms were not protected.