Wine Not: Putting a Cork in the Semi-Generic Category of Wine
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WINE NOT? PUTTING A CORK IN
THE SEMI-GENERIC CATEGORY OF WINE
Toujours le vin sent son terroir.1
I. INTRODUCTION
Imagining a marketplace in Bordeaux, France, circa 1800, helps
paint a picture of what some argue to be the origin of trademark law.
The residents of Bordeaux would have almost exclusively consumed
Bordeaux wine; not because of preference, but because that was all
their region produced. Over time, the globalization of trade would al-
low vendors to present the Bordeaux market with goods from across
the world-the residents would be given an opportunity to experience
goods like Riesling wines from Germany or Parmesan Reggiano from
Italy. Consumers started to associate the quality of the good with the
region from where it came. These associations and reputations began
to develop in a manner similar to product branding and trademarks.2
Eventually, European countries enacted laws prohibiting manufac-
turers from using certain titles unless the good was actually produced
in its respective region.3 This legally protected designation of origins
became known as a Geographical Indication.4 These laws are in-
tended to protect consumers by guaranteeing that the product they
are purchasing has the qualities associated with the geographical indi-
cation.5 They are also intended to protect the manufacturer by ensur-
ing that free-riders do not profit from marketing a product that
exploits a certain geographical indication.6 A geographical indication's
1. Wine always smells of its terroir.
2. Justin Hughes, Champagne, Feta, and Bourbon: The Spirited Debate About Geographical
Indications, 58 HASTINGS L.J. 299, 300-01 (2006) (noting how some contend that trademarks
developed in a similar fashion to geographical indications) (citing CHRISTIAN BoUDAN, Gilo-
POLITIQUE DU GOOT, LA GUERRE CULINAIRE 39-42, 46-51 (2004); M.G. Coerper, The Protec-
tion of Geographical Indications in the United States of America, 29 INoUS. PROP. 232 (1990)).
3. Hughes, supra note 2, at 301; see also 15 U.S.C. § 1127 (2012) (governing the allowance of
geographical designations as collective or certification marks); Agreement on Trade-Related As-
pects of Intellectual Property Rights art. 22, Apr. 15, 1994, 1869 U.N.T.S. 299, 33 I.L.M. 1197
[hereinafter TRIPS].
4. Hughes, supra note 2, at 301.
5. Id.
6. Id. at 300.
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Wine Not: Putting a Cork in the Semi-Generic Category of Wine
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