Judgment_paragraph 66 · Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, IP v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (T-659/14)

66In this connection, the applicant’s argument that the reference to the ‘product specification’ concerns the protected goods only and not the goods at issue, since the latter may be comparable products including spirits, cannot be upheld. Article 118m(2)(a)(i) of Regulation No 491/2009 clearly requires that ‘comparable products’ be ‘comparable products not complying with the product specification’, something which is possible only for a wine or for a liqueur wine (see paragraphs 1 to 3 of Annex IV to Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 of 29 April 2008 on the common organisation of the market in wine, amending Regulations (EC) No 1493/1999, (EC) No 1782/2003, (EC) No 1290/2005, (EC) No 3/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2392/86 and (EC) No 1493/1999 (OJ 2008 L 148, p. 1)), and not for a spirit such as whisky. As OHIM correctly contends, that is all the more true, since it is apparent from the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1576/89 (OJ 2008 L 39, p. 16), that spirit drinks are subject to a system of protection separate from that of wines and must meet different requirements in order to be eligible for such protection (see Article 5 of that regulation).

Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, IP v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (T-659/14)

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