European Court of Justice: The Swiss Emmentaler is not a protected cheese

The cheese Emmentaler does not have to come from the Swiss Emmental to be called Emmentaler in the EU. This has been determined by the European Court of Justice. This is a major setback for the Swiss producers who wanted to defend 'their' world-famous cheese against competitors such as Emmentaler from France and Bavaria. The application from the Swiss producers has previously been rejected twice by Euipo, the European Union's intellectual property office. Now it appears that going to court has also yielded nothing. The protected designation of origin (PDO) for products whose production, processing and preparation take place within a specific geographical area, according to a recognized and controlled method, qualifies for a protected designation of origin. And the geographical indication (PGI) for products from a specific geographical area, in which case there must be a link between the uniqueness or reputation of the product and the geographical origin, such as Dutch goat cheese. ...