Apologies for the delay in getting back to our round-ups, but all Kats have been working furiously away in the past week in an attempt to keep up with events as best they can; it's just that sometimes there's more going on than even an entire army of Kats can cope with. Four of us have been attending the International Trademark Association Meeting in Hong Kong (on which see many of this week's earlier Katposts). The INTA Meeting is an amazing and demanding event, bookended by bouts of extended travel and jetlag. It's also one which demands a hundred-percent concentration when talking with some of the world's greatest experts and scholars and seeking to learn from their experiences and perspectives, particularly given the variety of languages and cultures that abound.  Anyway, we'll do our best to get back to normal even though there are still a couple of weeks of catch-up and disruption ahead.


Gratitude is easy to express but not so easy to convey in a sincere manner when you've done it before.  However, the IPKat team are both individually and collectively grateful to the readers of this weblog for their continued support, contributions, encouragement and criticism that have helped it on its way over the past decade and beyond.  This week, as Twitter followers of @IPKat will know, our email subscriber list passed the 10,000 mark.  This blogger held his breath as the 10,000 mark was passed, since he had been informed, fortunately erroneously, that Google Groups stopped at 10,000.  We've said it before and we'll say it again: we are really and truly grateful for the wonderful support we have enjoyed from you all, and we'll do our very best to continue to deserve it.


Belated congratulations go to Katfriend and IP enthusiast Francis Gurry on his re-election as Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Francis's second term runs from 1 October of this year till the end of September 2020. Good luck, Francis!  Being Director General of WIPO is actually a bit like being an IP blogger, thinks Merpel: you're expected to get things right first time, every time; everything you say gets carefully scrutinised and painfully dissected -- but you get to meet and work with some wonderful people in pursuit of some useful causes, and it's that which makes it all worthwhile.


Forthcoming events.  Having just attended two recent big events and now gearing up for a couple more, this Kat thought it might be a good idea to remind readers that there is a list of forthcoming events on this blog which you can access via the home page side bar (you can also click straight on to it here).  It's not in any sense a complete list, but it does include a substantial number of events that are either free or that offer reductions in registration fees for readers of this weblog.  Do check it out!


Don't hesitate, mediate ...! On the subject of forthcoming events, this Kat is participating in OHIM's IP Mediation Conference, which takes place on 29 and 30 May in Alicante. You can check out the programme here.  Apart from the fact that there are some articulate and outspoken people on the cast, there may be some keen debate as to whether there is room for highly structured, formal and regulated mediation in a world in which less formal and more flexible dispute resolution has been making advances.  A report will likely appear on this very weblog, but that's not an excuse for not being there in person to watch ...


Around the weblogs.  Solo IP practitioner Sally Cooper, now back in England after her trip to Hong Kong for the INTA Meeting, gives her impressions on the SOLO IP blog here.  Ben Challis regales readers of the 1709 Blog with progress being made towards implementing a voluntary three-strike scheme to combat online piracy in the UK. Marty Schwimmer's Trademark Blog reproduces Marty's plea for Washington Redskins to drop their controversial brand on the basis of its being racist.  On Afro-IP, Aurelia J. Schultz reviews LibLicense and the prospects for digital licensing in Africa.

Sparkling .... ?!

Post INTA, this Kat finally has had some time to catch up with some interesting recent German cases.   The Regional Court of Munich I in April decided that German discounter Aldi's champagne sorbet may no longer be called "Champagner Sorbet" even though the discounter's frozen offering does indeed contain actual champagne (well 12%) the rest is reportedly just simple sugar and water.

What had happened?  The case was brought by the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne which had reportedly worried (see a report by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung Online here ) about the bubbly wine's good reputation. The Comité also pointed out that champagne was a protected designation of origin which Aldi had exploited.  Aldi's "Champagner Sorbet" product had been labelled with the photograph of a champagne bottle and glass full of sparkling wine.

The court agreed with the claimant and by assuming a broad legal protection for protected designations of origin confirmed that their use as a product name may be prevented in cases of an exploitation of their reputation.

The judges held that by calling the product "Champagner Sorbet" and using the photograph showing a champagne bottle Aldi had exploited the protected designation of origin's excellent reputation of high quality in relation to sparkling wines.  The court further elaborated that the specific "bubbly" qualities of champagne did not directly affect the sorbet's taste or qualities so that using the word "Champagne(r") in the product name together with Aldi's product getup amounted to an exploitation. 

However, at the same time the judges also stressed that the word "exploitation" should not be interepreted as a "ruthless, sefish" act or refer to an "unfair act" but should be seen as a "value neutral" assessment.  The creative judges then suggested an alternative product name: "Sparkling Wine Sorbet" - which does not quite have the same cachet, one might add.  The judges added that Aldi may still list champagne as in its list of ingredients on the packaging provided it listed in a purely descriptive manner.

Media reports suggest that Aldi will appeal the decision (case reference: 33 O 13181/13) .  A huge katpat goes to Edward Tomlinson for alerting the Kats to this sparkler!

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