Wine Law

1 Homonymous Names of Wines and Grape Varieties: The Case of Teran Matija Damjan 1 1. Introduction; 2. Geographical Indications and Generic Names; 3. Homonymous Geographical Indications; 4. Customary Names of Grape Varieties in Wine Labelling; 4.1. International agreements; 4.2. International standard for the labelling of wines; 4.3. European Union law; 5. Dispute over Teran; 5.1. Background; 5.2. Commission delegated regulation; 5.3. Action for annulment; 5.4. Aftermath; 6. Conclusion; 7. Bibliography. 1. Introduction On 9 September 2020, the European Union’s General Court published its judgment in case T-626/17 2 , dismissing Slovenia’s action for annulment of the European Commission’s Delegated Regulation under which the name of the wine grape variety “Teran” may be used in labelling of Croatian wines produced in the region of Istria. Slovenia had argued that this regulation was incompatible with the pre-existing Slovenian protected designation of origin of wine also called “Teran”. The gist of the case concerned the issue of homonymous indications for wine: the situation where two wine producing regions use same or similarly sounding terms in reference to different wines they produce. In trade mark law, competing claims to the right to use a distinctive sign or term for the same goods or services are avoided by the principles of territoriality and speciality of trade marks and, above all, by the principle of priority, under which the exclusive right to a trade mark is attributed to the first person who registered or used it. Where a trade mark is identical or similar to an earlier trade mark for the same or similar goods or 1 Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana & Secretary General at the Institute for Comparative Law at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana , matija.damjan@pf.uni-lj.si 2 Judgment of the General Court of 9 September 2020, Republic of Slovenia v European Commission, case T-626/17, ECLI:EU:T:2020:402.