LUXEMBOURG (CN) — Finding the name Champanillo too similar to the protected term Champagne, the EU's top court on Thursday backed French winemakers that had sued a small chain of tapas bars in Spain.
Champagne is one of many products given protected designation of origin status, a European Union classification that requires products to be grown in a certain region to use a region-specific name. Foods with PDOs include cheddar cheese, which originates in the English village of Cheddar; kalamata olives, from the city of Kalamata in Greece; and port, the Portuguese fortified wine from the northern region of the country.
The Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne, an organization of grape growers and wine producers, safeguards the word “champagne,” ensuring the term is only used on products grown in the Champagne wine region of France.
In the case at hand, it took aim at Champanillo, a tapas bar with four locations across Spain that features two clinking champagne glasses as its logo.
On Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Union agreed that the name “Champanillo,” which means “little champagne” in Spanish, could be confusing to consumers.
Champanillo has “conceptual proximity” to the protected term, despite not being used on food, according to the ruling from the five-judge panel.
“The degree of similarity between the signs at issue is particularly high and close to the identity, from a visual and / or phonetic point of view,” the court wrote. (A copy of the opinion is not yet available in English.)
Thursday's loss for Champanillo likely means a name change both on storefronts and social media, as well as abandonment of the web domain champanillo.es.
The Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne has a notorious reputation for zealously protecting Champagne's caché. In 2017, budget grocery store chain Aldi lost a five-year legal battle before the court over a “Champagner Sorbet,” which the company sold in the lead up to Christmas in 2012.
More recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin goaded Champagne makers in July with a new law that requires foreign producers, including the French, to call their products sparkling wine while reserving “shampanskoye” for Russian winemakers.
Champanillo's case was referred to the Luxembourg-based court by the Barcelona Provincial Court, asking for clarity about whether PDO protection extended beyond food products to services, like the restaurant in question. The designation is granted to protect the reputation of regional specialties and recognize the knowledge of local producers.
Bluntly, the court’s Fifth Chamber, wrote: “[The legislation] must be interpreted as meaning that it protects PDOs with regard to acts relating to both products and services.” Thursday’s ruling follows a nonbinding opinion from a court magistrate in April, who concluded that EU regulations gave “wide-ranging protection” to producers.
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