In this section, experiences in respect of the ex-officio examination under absolute grounds for refusal of trade mark applications against prior geographical indications are addressed. These highlight the important issues involved (scope of protection, concepts of ‘evocation’ and ‘comparable products’, etc.) Please click on the presenter name below to view their content:
Ms. Elisa Zaera Cuadradohas been working at EUIPO since 2009, in the Operations Department (OD, 2009-2011), in the International Cooperation and Legal Affairs Department (ICLAD, 2011-2016) and since 2017 again in the OD. During her last two years in ICLAD, Elisa has coordinated a group of experts dealing with the practice of absolute grounds for refusing the registration of a mark. As coordinator, she was responsible for the advice and the revision of the EUIPO Guidelines on, among other things, the examination of trade marks in conflict with geographical indications.
Mr. Alessandro Sciarra is a European trade mark attorney at Studio Legale Bird & Bird. With over 10 years of experience in the IP field, Alessandro specialises in providing legal advice on the recognition and protection of geographical indications and has advised various consortia representing well-known Protected Designations of Origin. His practice focuses also on trade mark filing and prosecution, management of trade mark and domain name portfolios, UDRP and ADR procedures to recover domain names.
He has a degree in law from the University of Milan and he is currently the Chair of the MARQUES Geographical Indications Team.