Rouse, a leading international IP services business, has protected the Geographical Indication (GI) of COGNAC by preventing a South Korean business from registering the trade mark in bad faith for a shampoo brand. The decision issued on 24 April 2025 marks the first time the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board has upheld a foreign geographical indication under the framework of a free trade agreement for unrelated goods, representing a historic milestone for geographical indication protection in South Korea and more generally in East Asia.
COGNAC is a registered GI, however, in 2020 the South Korean company tried to register the trademark for shampoos claiming to contain COGNAC. The case was brought to Rouse’s attention by the National Interprofessional Bureau of COGNAC (BNIC), in conjunction with the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO), which sought to shut down the application. This landmark case saw Rouse prove that the use of the name COGNAC damaged the reputation of the GI, risked misleading consumers and aimed to take undue advantage of its reputation.
The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) rejected the registration of the shampoo brand recognising for the first time the well-known nature of a GI and effectively implementing the direct protection offered by the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement and the TRIPS Agreements (TRIPS). Notably, the Office accepted the similarity between the contested mark and the well-known GI ‘COGNAC’ as a sufficient basis for refusing registration, without making its decision conditional on the existence of an economic link between the goods. This is a significant step forward for GIs.
Fabrice Mattei, Principal at Rouse said: “The IPTAB’s decision to uphold protection for COGNAC against bad-faith applicants for goods other than alcoholic beverages marks a landmark ruling in the region. It sets a strong and a clear warning for businesses seeking to exploit internationally recognized GIs to mislead the public.”
Amandine Duthilleul, director intellectual property & GI COGNAC Protection at the Department of Bureau National Interprofessionnel du COGNAC (BNIC), said: “This decision marks an important step forward in our ongoing efforts to protect the COGNAC GI. The accumulation of trademark registrations and uses of the name COGNAC for products unrelated to the appellation contributes to the weakening of its distinctiveness and threatens the integrity of the GI system as a whole. COGNAC is a product with a highly specific set of production requirements defined in a strict specification: it must be made from particular grape varieties grown in the delimited area in the south west of France, distilled twice in copper pot stills, and aged in oak barrels. The sector remains fully mobilized to combat opportunistic uses of the name COGNAC and to ensure that the value generated by this world-renowned GI continues to benefit the region and its producers. Our consumers understand what makes COGNAC the world renowned product it is, and it’s imperative to us that the name is not tarnished. We are extremely grateful to Rouse for their diligence and expertise in defending the integrity of the COGNAC name.”
Following the victory, the BNIC remains mobilised to protect the COGNAC brand and fight against the misuse of the GI in all markets.
