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Supreme Court of Spain (Civil Bench) [2019]: Fundación Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen protegida Queso Manchego v Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL and Juan Ramón Cuquerella Montagud, Case No. 451/2019

This is an informal case summary prepared for the purposes of facilitating exchange during the 2023 WIPO IP Judges Forum.

 

Session 3: Emerging Issues in Geographical Indications

 

Supreme Court of Spain (Civil Bench) [2019]: Fundación Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen protegida Queso Manchego v Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL and Juan Ramón Cuquerella Montagud, Case No. 451/2019

 

Date of judgment: July 18, 2019

Issuing authority: Civil Bench of the Supreme Court of Spain

Level of the issuing authority: Final Instance

Type of procedure: Judicial (Civin( �/span>

Subject matter: Geographical Indications; Enforcement of IP and Related Laws

Plaintiff: Fundación Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen protegida Queso Manchego

DefendantIndustrial Quesera Cuquerella SL and Juan Ramón Cuquerella Montagud

Keywords: Geographical area, Figurative signs, Protected designation of origin, Unlawful evocation

 

Basic facts: Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL markets three of its cheeses using labels with an illustration of a knight similar to the usual depictions of Don Quijote de La Mancha, i.e., a bony horse and landscapes with windmills and sheep, as well as the words ‘Quesos Rocinante’ (‘Rocinante cheeses’).

 

Those images and the word ‘Rocinante’ refer to the novel Don Quijote de La Mancha, written by Miguel de Cervantes, ‘Rocinante’ being the name of the horse ridden by Don Quijote.

 

The cheeses in question are not covered by the protected designation of origin (PDO) ‘queso manchego’, which covers cheeses made in the region of La Mancha (Spain) from sheep’s milk in accordance with the requirements of the product specification of that PDO.

 

The Fundación Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Protegida Queso Manchego is responsible for managing and protecting the ‘queso manchego’ PDO.

 

On that basis, the Fundación Consejo Regulador brought an action against Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL and Mr. Juan Ramón Cuquerella Montagud, seeking a declaration that the labels used to identify and market the three contested cheeses, as well as the use of the aforementioned words, infringe the PDO at issue.

 

The Spanish courts of first and second instance held that the signs and names used by Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL to market those cheeses evoke the region of La Mancha, but not necessarily the cheese ‘queso manchego’ covered by the PDO.

 

The case was appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court, which asked the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling on, first, whether a registered name may be evoked through the use of figurative signs; and, second, on whether the use of such signs evoking the geographical area with which a PDO is associated may constitute evocation of that designation, including where such figurative signs are used by a producer established in that region, but whose products are not covered by the PDO.

 

The Court of Justice of the European Union, in its Decision of May 2, 2019, held that a registered name may be evoked through the use of figurative signs.  The Court noted that the regulation provides that registered names must be protected against ‘any evocation’ and that the use of the word ‘any’ reflects the intention to protect registered names, as evocation is deemed possible through the use of a word element or figurative element.  The decisive question is whether that word or figurative element is capable of triggering directly in the consumer’s mind the image of the product whose designation is protected.

 

Held: In its Judgment of July 18, 2019, the Civil Bench of the Supreme Court of Spain found the defendants to have infringed the ‘queso manchego’ protected designation of origin.

 

Relevant holdings in relation to emerging issues in geographical indications [specifically, unlawful evocation]:  The Supreme Court of Spain held that (i) a registered name may be evoked through the use of figurative signs, and (ii) the use of such signs evoking the geographical area with which a PDO is associated may constitute evocation of that designation.

                                                                                      

Relevant legislation:

Article 13 and 14, Regulation (EC) No 510/2006