EUROPE'S highest court has upheld the right of Dutch and Italian brewers to sell their "Bavaria" beer in Italy, rejecting a bid by a rival Bavarian company to stop them.
Bayerischer Brauerbund, a German association of brewers, makes Bayerisches Bier, a name that has been granted European Union protection. It has been making the beer since 1968.
Dutch brewer Bavaria NV, which operates internationally, is the owne
r of several trademarks that contain the word "Bavaria" registered from 1947. Bavaria Italia belongs to the Bavaria group of companies. In 2004, the German association filed a case in an Italian court to stop the Italian and Dutch brewers from marketing beers under the "Bavaria" name in Italy. The lawsuit was successful, prompting an appeal.
The Italian court then referred the case to the European Court of Justice to clarify if similar brand names that were in use before the EU protection came into force.
The EU has awarded protected-name status to hundreds of regional food and drink products, insisting that only producers in the relevant region can use the names. Several thousand wine names, for example, are protected.
But the ECJ ruled that the regulation registering "Bayerisches Bier" as a protected name "has no adverse effects on the validity and the possibility of using ... pre-existing trademarks of third parties in which the word 'Bavaria' appears".
