The imitation of Amarone della Valpolicella, one of the most popular Italian red wines, doesn't stop. The most recent is one blocked in the United States, where a California company, Popcorn Design LLC, tried to register the trademark "Calpolicella". The Consorzio di tutela vini della Valpolicella and the Verona Chamber of Commerce, which owns the Veronese brand, protested to the American copyright office and blocked a classic instance of Italian sounding.
As Claudio Valente, a member of the Verona Chamber of Commerce, explained, "We find more and more labels on foreign store shelves and restaurant tables with names that suggest Italy's better-known wines”. Because outside the European Union,“the rules that protect denominazioni di origine, DOC wines, do not apply”. So, what is the most efficient way to protect Italian wine from the attempts at imitation?According to Valente, we should “register them as a collective brand". But this is not the first time Italy has to protect itself from Italian sounding phenomenon: in fact,in the last ten years, the Verona Chamber of Commerce has invested almost 470 million euros defending the brand around the world.
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