The Promise of eAmbrosia? What’s in the Reform Package for EU Geographical Indications

The Commission has tabled proposals for a GI reform that breathe the spirit of long-forgotten times: Whereas IP legislation in recent years has become increasingly sensitive to the functions and effects of protection, GIs are largely unaffected by IP-intrinsic logics. Protection is continuously driven forward and expanded following other concerns, essentially of agricultural and industrial policy. This contribution argues that it is time to admit that GIs are really not part of IP and that modifications of the regime should not sail under the guise of providing incentives for investments in product innovation or quality. Both the EU legislator and the IP community could deploy some of the honesty, ambition and courage in that regard that are characteristic for Reto M. Hilty’s legal scholarship and legacy.