Court denies trademark request for gruyere cheese in the United States

A judicial ruling has determined that “gruyere” is a generic style of cheese that can come from anywhere. The decision reaffirms that all cheesemakers, not just those in France or Switzerland, can continue to create and market cheese under this common name. In the judicial decision, the Consortium for Common Food Names, U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers Federation, and a coalition of other dairy stakeholders prevailed in their sustained fight to preserve the ability of all actors in the U.S. marketplace to use generic terms. Senior Judge T. S. Ellis III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the Aug. 5, 2020, precedential decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. “Not only is this a landmark victory for American dairy farmers and cheese producers who offer gruyere, this win sets a vital precedent in the much larger, ongoing battle over food names in the United States,” says Jaime ...