Lisbon Agreement
Overview
The Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, commonly known as the Lisbon Agreement, is an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The agreement provides for the protection and international registration of appellations of origin, which are geographical indications used to identify the origin and quality of products.
History
The Lisbon Agreement was adopted on October 31, 1958, in Lisbon, Portugal, and entered into force on September 25, 1966. The agreement was revised in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1967 and amended in 1979. The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, which expanded the scope of the agreement to include geographical indications, was adopted on May 20, 2015.
Purpose
The primary purpose of the Lisbon Agreement is to provide protection to appellations of origin. An appellation of origin is a special kind of geographical indication, generally consisting of a geographical name or a traditional designation, used on products which have a specific quality or characteristics that are essentially due to the geographical environment in which they are produced.
Members
As of 2021, there are 30 contracting parties to the Lisbon Agreement, including countries and intergovernmental organizations. The European Union became a member of the Lisbon Agreement in 2020.
Provisions
The Lisbon Agreement provides for the protection of appellations of origin through an international registration system. Once an appellation of origin is registered, contracting parties are required to protect it within their territories, even if it is not registered in their national or regional systems.
Geneva Act
The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, adopted in 2015, expanded the scope of the agreement to include geographical indications. Geographical indications are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation due to that origin.
Criticisms
The Lisbon Agreement has been criticized for its limited membership and for the lack of a dispute resolution mechanism. Some critics also argue that the agreement's protections for appellations of origin and geographical indications can create trade barriers.