This course will shed light on the three pillars of the international system of protection for geographical indications: the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration (WIPO, 1958), the TRIPs system (WTO, 1994), the EU Quality Schemes (EU Regulation 1151/2012 and ECJ case law). The three systems will be compared under three aspects: the definitions they envisage for geographical indications, the related registration procedures and the content of protection.

The course will then focus on Intellectual Property Rights in the food marketplace: trademarks, food design, patents, know-how and plant breeders’ rights.

The main legislation systems for IP rights in Europe will be presented, as will the organization and functions of the competent offices: the WIPO bureau, the European Patent Office, the Office for Harmonization of Internal Market, the Community Plant Variety Office. Thereafter the international system for protection of trademarks and the main features of the Community Trademark (Community Regulation 207/2009 and ECJ case law) will be explained.

The focus will then move to the EU protection system for food design (Community trademark; Community design: EU Regulation 6/2002). National unfair competition laws will be discussed too.

The European Patent System, the European Patent with unitary effect and the legal protection of biotechnological inventions (EU Directive 44/1998) will be illustrated.

This course will conclude with the UPOV Convention for the Protection of new varieties of plants and the Community Plant variety right (EU Regulation 2100/1994) and the legal protection for recipes in the agri-food sector.