1121 veces visto
  • The OHIM denies registration to communitarian brand “Colombueno” for considering it misleading and harmful to reputation of Café de Colombia.

Bogota, February 12, 2015 (FNC Press Office) – The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), responsible for protecting creativity and innovation in the European Union (EU), denied registration to the communitarian Spanish brand “Colombueno” for considering that it damaged the reputation of Café de Colombia.

The EU recognized Café de Colombia as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in 2007.

According to the OHIM, restaurants and coffee are closely related, and a store called “Colombueno” is likely to be misleading, as consumers might infer that the restaurant sells the PGI Café de Colombia.

Some of the resolution’s sections read:

  • Spanish consumers will associate the word Colombueno with Colombian and good (…) From a conceptual viewpoint, there is clear evocation of ‘Colombia’ as a geographical location, which is the geographical element relevant to the PGI.
  • Consumers of Colombian coffee can reasonably expect that restaurants and cafés identified with the protected name, or an evocation of it, are specialized in coffee with the special attributes of this PGI.
  • We therefore consider that the contested brand (…) will bring the PGI Café de Colombia to the consumer’s mind.

Colombia leads coffee origin positioning and protection

Thanks to the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) efforts to protect its brand portfolio, Colombia was the first non-European PGI recognized by the EU.

A PGI is a legal tool that guarantees a product’s geographical origin and the quality associated with it. Depending on the jurisdiction, a PGI can be a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), a Certified Brand, or a Certified Ingredient.

Colombia is the most advanced and innovative coffee-producing country in PDOs. In addition to Café de Colombia, it has regional coffee PDOs such as Cauca, Nariño, Huila and Santander. No other country has as many regional coffee PDOs, which allows offering and guaranteeing origin diversity and quality.

The FNC’s verification and control system works worldwide and helps guarantee the Café de Colombia origin through regular random samplings in supermarkets and specialty shops.  In 2014 alone, over 1,600 samples were collected and assessed in these sales channels, and 47,800 green coffee samples were collected from export ports and evaluated.

Café de Colombia also uses cutting edge technology to guarantee origin such as Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), identifying different green/roasted coffee origins in a sample to verify if it is 100% Colombian coffee.

The FNC also safeguards Colombian coffee reputation by protecting associated brands, taking measures such as application oppositions and cancelations. In 2014, there were 43 oppositions to misleading trademark applications.