(Finance) – Il Consortium for the Protection of Prosecco DOC is proud to share the new victory achieved against Australian Wine and Grape Inc. (AGWI), confirming the validity of the registration in China of the registered trademark ‘Pu Luo Sai Ke’, or Prosecco in Chinese. The Consortium has been working for years protect the denomination in the Far East: in fact it has already obtained important protections in China, both thanks to the registration of the “Prosecco” trademark and within the Cooperation and Protection Agreement of Geographical Indications between the European Union and the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
Added to this is the branding in Chinese ideograms contested by the AGWI which has an interest in exporting Australian wines labeled as “prosecco” to this market too. The Australian association, in fact, has filed an application for annulment claiming that “Prosecco” is a vine variety and not a wine protected as a geographical indication (GI).
After two levels of judgement, the Beijing High Court (BHC) rejected AGWI’s appeal, ruling that the Prosecco brand, even in the Chinese transliteration, constitutes a GI and can only be used to identify our wine.
“We can only be happy with the result. – comments the President Stefano Zanette – China, one of the most populous countries in the world, has once again recognized that the term Prosecco indisputably indicates our denomination of origin. This protection aims to further safeguard our product, the uniqueness of our territories and the hard work that the entire DOC supply chain carries out on a daily basis.”