News on Trademarks and Geographical Indications

1. Trademark Argentina
The National Secretary of Tourism issued Decree No. 699/2014, published in the Official Gazette on May 13, 2014, establishing the “TRADEMARK ARGENTINA” as the Official Trademark of the Republic of Argentina, in order to homogenize the national image before the world.
The decree updates the original design for the “TRADEMARK ARGENTINA”, established originally by Decree No. 1372 of August 26, 2008, and later modified by Decree No. 2102 of December 4, 2008.
The following is the approved design:


 
In addition, to achieve a better management of the trademark ARGENTINA, a  consolidatation of the coordination of the strategy regarding the trademark Argentina with the international promotion of investments in tourism by “Fundación Exportar” is proposed.

2. Sparkling Wines
On May 30, 2014 a draft bill was submitted to the Senate (S-1495/14) to propose an amendment of Article 17, paragraph c) of the General Wine Law (Law No.14,878). The bill, submitted by Senators Bermejo, Fernández, Godoy, Luna and Pichetto, aims at unifying the names "sparkling, champaña or champagne wines” (vinos espumosos, champaña o champagne) to become the single name "Sparkling Wines" (Vinos Espumantes).
Furthermore, to grant “sparkling wines” a fair tax treatment, the bill proposed that Articles 33 and 34 of Internal Revenue Law No. 24,674 be revoked. This is due to the fact that these are the only products in the viticulture chain that have been taxed under Internal Revenue Law No. 24,674 (although enforcement of this law has been suspended because by Decrees Nos. 235/2013 and 266/2014).
This bill is intended to comply with the international trend of respecting the Appellations of Origin (in this case “Champagne”) and provide a fair tax policy to sparkling wines (vinos espumantes).

3. New Geographical Indication
By Resolution No. 37/2014, published in the Official Gazette on March 12, 2014, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing recognised the Geographical Indication (GI) “SALAME TIPICO DE COLONIA CAROYA” and approved and registered its Production Protocol.
The GI distinguishes the product “salame”, a home-made pork salami (chacinado) manufactured in the city of Colonia Caroya, Province of Cordoba.
The Resolution establishes the following:
(i) The certificate evidencing the right to use the GI “SALAME TIPICO DE COLONIA CAROYA” is issued on behalf of the Regulatory Council of this GI.
(ii) The approval of the following logo to commercialize the product protected by the GI, which must include the year and number of this resolution.



(iii) The use of the distinctive GI sign (approved by Resolution No. 546/2011 of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing –published in “Geographical Indications for Agricultural and Food Products”, in Marval News # 109 of September 30, 2011) is compulsory in all products identified with the GI SALAME TIPICO DE COLONIA CAROYA.
(iv) According to the regulation of Law No. 25,380 which states the protection of GI for agricultural and food products, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), as well as the corresponding national and/or international organizations, must be notified of this Resolution.
The above-mentioned GI is the third that has been recognized for agricultural and food products since the passing of Law No. 25,380 (2001) as modified by Law No. 25,966 (2004).