Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration

The Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, signed on 31 October 1958, ensures that in member countries, appellations of origin receive protection when are protected in their country of origin. It lays down provisions for what qualifies as an appellation of origin, protection measures and establishes an International Register of Appellations of Origin, run by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The agreement came into force in 1966, and was revised at Stockholm (1967) and amended in 1979 and 2015. As of July 2022, 39 states are party to the convention and 1000 appellations of origin has been registered.

The agreements establish a Special Union under Article 19 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883). Some aspects of the agreement have been superseded by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

Geneva Act
In May 2015, the Geneva Act to the Agreement was adopted, formally extending protection to Geographical Indication and changing the name: Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. The act furthermore allows intergovernmental organisations to become parties. On 21 May 2015, the Act was signed by 13 states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Congo, France, Gabon, Hungary, Mali, Nicaragua, Peru, Romania and Togo. It entered into force in 2020 following ratifications/accessions by 5 parties: Albania, Cambodia, European Union, North Korea and Samoa. As of 18 January 2024, the number of parties is 21.

Parties
The treaty applies mutually between the parties of the 1958 Lisbon Agreement and the 1967 Stockholm Act, but not between a party solely to the 1958 Agreement and another party solely to the 1967 Stockholm act. The Geneva Act entered into force in 2020, and only applies between the Geneva act parties. If a state is a party to multiple Lisbon instruments, then a registered appellation of origin registered under any of the instruments applies also to parties of the other instruments the state is a party to.