enhance the positive externalities linked to the reputation of the territory, including by granting such signs for use to enterprises operating within the territory10. IV. THE REGULATION OF TSG UNDER LEGISLATIVE DECREE NO. 15 OF 2019 Prior to the enactment of Regulation 2024/1143, in our legal system, Traditional Specialties Guaranteed (TSG) derived their regulation from Legislative Decree No. 15 of 2019, which, in turn, had amended Legislative Decree No. 30 of 2005 by adding letter c-quater to paragraph 1 of Article 14. Specifically, with the addition of this letter, the legislator expressly included the signs related to the protection of Traditional Specialties Guaranteed among those signs whose registration as trademarks is barred. The legal significance of this prohibition, however, was, according to the prevailing doctrinal thesis, less substantial than it appeared at prima facie. And this, above all, because pursuant to Article 13, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree No. 30 of 2005, which was not amended by Legislative Decree No. 15 of 2019, the names registered in the EU trademark register for TSG (Traditional Specialties Guaranteed) were already excluded from registrability as trademarks for business purposes, given that they typically correspond to generic designations of agri-food products11. Furthermore, it should be added, from a different perspective, that the amended legal provision did not contain a direct prohibition, but only a reference. Therefore, the exclusion was applicable only when and to the extent that the EU regulation explicitly provided for it. Indeed, prior to the adoption of Regulation 2024/1143, Regulations 1151 of 2012, 664 of 2014, and 668 of 2014 did not establish explicit provisions linking TSGs to trademark law, instead adopting a legal approach separate from that applicable to PDOs and PGIs12. 10 Cf. Galli, C., ed., Codice della proprietà industriale: la riforma 2010, Milan, 2010; and more specifically, within the same volume, Contini, A., “Le opportunità di sfruttamento della nuova protezione delle denominazioni di origine e il ruolo dei Consorzi,” pp. 43 and following. 11 The “Neapolitan pizza,” in fact, has been registered “without reservation of the name” pursuant to Regulation 97/2010, as has “mozzarella,” which was also registered “without reservation of the name,” pursuant to Regulation 2527/98, subsequently repealed and replaced by Regulation 1204/2008. Conversely, the case of “latte-fieno” is different. In this instance, it pertains to a sign capable of fulfilling a function characteristic of a trademark, namely, a communicative function regarding the characteristics of the marked product. 12 In this regard, see G. Tassoni, “Traditional Specialties Guaranteed (TSG)” in Legislative Decree No. 15 of 385 PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL SPECIALTY GUARANTEED (TSG) IN THE EU
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==