"Made in Poland" – How reliable is information about origin?

In Poland, there are only a few decisions regarding designations of origin. This results from the fact that the European Commission has registered a total of 44 product details from Poland either as designations of origin (10), geographical information (24) or guaranteed traditional specialties (10). The information from the Polish Patent Office shows that in 2019, only a single geographical indication of origin was submitted for registration.

There is a more comprehensive case law on the subject of the ability to register a trademark with an designation of origin. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to register names of origin as a brand. In the past, however, a trademark registration of the indication of origin was significantly more liberal. The decision of the ECJ in the legal matter “Windsurfing Chiemsee” brought about a turnaround. Since then, it has been much more difficult to make such an entry in Poland. The disputes regarding the ability to register designations of origin as trademarks generally refer to:

• the aspects of the primary distinctiveness or the secondary distinctiveness of the brand;
• the consent of the competent authority to use the designation (for example, to use the names or symbols of the respective city or region);
• the establishment of the conditions for the registration of a designation with indications of origin as a trademark.

In an interesting decision of the Administrative Court of Warsaw of the Voivodeship (ref. VI SA/Wa 333/05), for example, the court maintained the decision of the Patent Office to reject the application for the registration of a trademark with the designation “Kashubian” [Kaszubski]. In the opinion of the court, the designation “Kashubian” in ordinary business transactions is not sufficiently distinguishable and is only considered as information where the goods concerned are manufactured. In addition, the term “Kashubian” refers to a large region in the north of Poland, and the registration of a trademark with this designation in favour of a company would disadvantage the activity of other local companies that could not use this designation.