EU's refusal to recognise Swiss cheese trademark contested in court

The European Commission does not want to recognise the trademark of the traditional Swiss cheese Emmentaler. The organisation Emmentaler Switzerland has lodged an appeal against this decision with the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is based in Luxembourg. Trademark protection should allow the original to be clearly distinguished from imitations, Urs Schluechter, director of Emmentaler Switzerland, told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA. The aim, he explained, is to ensure that the name 'Emmentaler' is used exclusively for the registered designation of origin Swiss cheese by registering the name with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox. Since January, however, the European Commission has refused to protect the name. The EU executive justifies its decision on the grounds that the name is historically and culturally linked to a wider geographical area than just Switzerland, adding that the name ...