"Cuina Catalana," the privately owned brand that the Generalitat will now be able to manage.
The Catalan Institute of Cuisine has registered the term and has granted its use free of charge.
Barcelona"Catalan cuisine is being patrimonialized," complained a chef. "With regard to the registries, the matter is somewhat more complex. But the issue is that this whole tangle has recently been resolved by the Generalitat of Catalonia, through an agreement for the free transfer of the term. "Catalan gastronomic heritage."
Pepa Aymamí, director of the Catalan Institute of Cuisine Foundation, registered the Cuina Catalana trademark in 2000, linked to the foundation. With this registered trademark, the institute set in motion its consolidation. All restaurants that meet the conditions that meet the conditions that meet the conditions Corpus of Catalan Cuisine and 40% local products) display the Catalan Cuisine badge on the door. According to Aymamí, approximately two years ago, the Generalitat of Catalonia contacted the institute to manage it. The decision was then made to transfer the brand to the Generalitat for joint management by the institute and the Generalitat. In this way, the institute maintains 51% of its management. by UNESCO as a cultural asset of national interest." Finally, an agreement has been reached to transfer the trademark to the Generalitat free of charge for a period of five years. The transfer agreement provides for some members of the institute's scientific committee to form part of the brand's management team, and the Generalitat will contribute more.
Although the transfer agreement is already a reality, Aymamí regrets that the Generalitat has moved forward by announcing it publicly, without including the institute, which is the transferee, and without making any explicit thanks to the party that has transferred it to the people, as an inconsistency, because if the transfer is relevant enough to justify regulatory and communicative action by the Government (a decree has been approved to publicize the transfer), it should also be relevant to publicly recognize the contribution of those who have made it possible. I believe that gestures like this are fundamental to guarantee an institutional culture, director of the Catalan Institute of Cuisine Foundation.
Government sources Those who negotiated the transfer emphasize that Aymamí "has done a lot of work" and that now is the time to promote the brand, which belongs to everyone, and that a committee of experts will have to be formed to determine what actions are taken. He rejects the idea that the transfer is only temporary. Catalan cuisine was not known outside our borders. The information we have is that the Cuina Catalana brand would be formally registered by a private individual or institution.
Who owns Catalan cuisine?
To understand how trademarks work, it's important to know that there are names that cannot be registered, or that, if registered, can be later cancelled. According to Jordi Romaní, a lawyer specializing in industrial and intellectual property, he explains to ARA that the fact that a trademark "cannot be registered does not mean that it cannot be obtained" and that, when this happens, "it is a perfectly voidable trademark." For example, a major company wanted to register the word panellet and it didn't work out. Just as you couldn't register the word apple. Unless the apple, "Apple" in this case, is used to sell something completely different. If it were to be registered, as we explained, this trademark would be voidable.
But there is one exception, Romero explains: the guarantee mark. A guarantee mark works similarly to a designation of origin. To use a guarantee mark, you don't need to ask for permission, just comply with the regulations for use. These marks are not for profit. The Cuina Catalana trademark was registered in 2002 by the Catalan Institute of Cuisine as a guarantee mark.
In 2009, the Consortium for the Promotion of Commerce of Catalonia (COPCA), currently known as Acció, wanted to register the trademark "Catalan Cuisine. Catalan Gastronomic Heritage" to help export Catalan products everywhere. The registration did not go ahead because Aymamí objected and was ruled in favor. The trademark, therefore, was not successful: "This expression is clearly eminently generic and descriptive, because it refers to all those professionals in the gastronomic sector who prepare typical Catalan cuisine, so it would be unfair for a similar expression to be monopolized in favor of a single owner," stated the registration resolution.
