SF meet: future of feta, port, sherry, gorgonzola at stake

[Declan McCullagh]

    COMMERCE UNDER SECRETARY ROGAN TO OPEN USPTO/WIPO CONFERENCE EXPLORING
              USE OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES TO DESCRIBE FOOD AND WINE
        Use of Terms Bologna, Parmesan, Chablis, and Burgundy Could Be
         Prohibited, Adversely Affecting U.S. Food and Wine Industry
   Wednesday, July 9, 2003
9:30 a.m.
   The Palace Hotel
   2 New Montgomery Street
   San Francisco, CA.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property James E. Rogan will
make opening remarks at a three-day symposium (July 9-11) on the use of
geographical indications (GIs) to describe food and wine.  The symposium,
which is being co-hosted by the Department of Commercebs U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO), will feature an international array of experts in the field from
WIPO member states and the food and wine industries.  The symposium is
being held in anticipation of a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on
GIs scheduled for Cancun, Mexico in September.  It is expected that at the
Cancun meeting, the European Union will call for terminating the use of
certain generic terms to describe food and wine unless those products come
from a specific geographic region.  If the EU is successful, use of terms
such as feta and gorgonzola for cheese, and port and sherry for wine - now
considered generic in many WTO member nations - could be prohibited in the
United States, resulting in consumer confusion and potentially injuring
U.S. domestic and international commerce in food and wine.
     The symposium agenda is available at
http://www.wipo.int/meetings/2003/geo-ind/en/program/.