The Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, or the Lisbon Agreement for short, was signed in Lisbon, Portugal in 1958. The Lisbon Agreement aims to protect appellations of origin. An appellation of origin is “a geographical name of a country, region or locality used to indicate a product originating therein and whose qualities or characteristics are entirely or essentially due to its geographical environment, whether natural or artificial” (Article 2). Such names are registered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, upon request from the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties concerned. The International Bureau maintains the International Register of Appellations of Origin and notifies the other Contracting Parties of the registration. The International Bureau also publishes the registration in the Official Gazette of the Lisbon System, Appellations of Origin. A Contracting Party may declare, within one year of receipt of notification of a registration, that it cannot guarantee the protection of a registered appellation in its territory [Article 5(3)]. The declaration must state the reasons for the refusal of protection. A Contracting Party may subsequently withdraw the refusal under a procedure established under the Lisbon System. Registered names will be protected against counterfeiting and imitation, even if translated or with the addition of the words “kind” or “model” (Article 3), and will not be deemed to have become generic as long as they continue to be protected in the country of origin (Article 6).
From January 2010, Contracting Parties will have the option of issuing a declaration of grant of protection, thereby improving the communication of information on the status of international registrations in Member States. A Contracting Party that knows before the expiration of the one-year refusal period provided for in Article 5(3) that it will not issue a declaration of refusal may issue such a declaration; in addition, such a declaration may replace a notification of withdrawal of a refusal.
The Lisbon Agreement was concluded in 1958, revised at Stockholm in 1967 and amended in 1979. It established the Union, which has an Assembly. Members of the Assembly shall be those States members of the Union that have adhered to at least the administrative and final provisions of the Stockholm Act.
The Agreement is open to States party to the Paris Convention. Instruments of ratification or accession must be deposited with the Director General of WIPO.