“Glen Buchenbach” Suit to Continue After CJEU Ruling

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has held that the name of German whisky Glen Buchenbach may mislead consumers into believing the product is manufactured in Scotland. Scotch Whisky Assoc. v. Klotz, No, C-44/17 (CJEU, entered June 7, 2018). CJEU clarified EU law on registered geographical indications, holding that an “indirect commercial use” can occur if the product at issue includes an element either identical or phonetically and visually similar to the registered indication but does not occur if the “element is liable to evoke in the relevant public some kind of association with the indication concerned or the geographical area relating thereto.” CJEU remanded the case to German court for a final determination, which may consider a magistrate’s preliminary finding that “‘glen’ does not have a sufficiently clear and direct link with the protected geographical indication in question.”