Cheese name ruling brings hope

The ruling means Gruyére cheese does not have to come from the Gruyére region of Europe to be sold under the name. It reaffirms that all cheesemakers, not just those in France or Switzerland, can continue to create and market cheese under this common name.

Dairy Companies of NZ (DCANZ) executive director Kimberly Crewther says the decision is a good outcome "that we are pleased to see".

Crewther told Dairy News that DCANZ agrees that Gruyére is a generic cheese and oppoed its registration as a geographical indicator (GI) Europe.

"We have objected to the EU's request that Gruyére be protected for sole use under the EU-NZ FTA on the basis that it is a cheese variety with a long history of production in many countries beyond France and Switzerland, including NZ and the EU."

Crewther says the US court finding underscores the common nature of Gruyére as a cheese term.

US dairy farmers and stakeholders have been fighting to preserve the ability of all players in the US market to use generic terms.

"This is a huge victory for common sense and for hard-working manufacturers and dairy farmers," says US Dairy Export Council president and chief executive Krysta Harden.

"When a word is used by multiple companies in multiple stores and restaurants every day for years, as Gruyére has been, that word is generic and no one owns the exclusive right to use it," Harden says.

NZ dairy processors have been expressing concern at continued efforts from Europe to monopolise common cheese names. However court battles can be costly.

Crewther says outcomes such as this US court finding are welcome, but the cost of such proceedings to defend the use of common terms creates a heavy burden for local processors.

"It is notable that the US court found that the arguments put forward by the European proponents were weak.

"There should be far greater onus on those parties seeking to claw back and monopolise common names to substantiate their arguments of uniqueness before imposing costs on other existing users to defend the common nature of the term.

"There are a number of simple criteria that can be used as markers for a cheese term being common, for example history of production in multiple geographies or the cheese name having been previously recognised as common, either directly or indirectly in past international agreements.

"Gruyére is produced in many countries and the EU has previously acknowledged it as a generic cheese variety by using it as a descriptor for one of its WTO import quotas.

"Where a cheese so clearly ticks the box of being a common varietal term, any proposal for its use to be clawed back and monopolised should be rejected at the outset without imposing undue costs on other market participants to defend their legitimate use of the term," says Crewther.

Triple Threat

The European Union is pushing for New Zealand cheesemakers to stop using three names - Gruyére, Feta and Gorgonzola.

Cheesemakers in the US have been given the green light to use the generic name Gruyére for their product.

While free trade negotiations are continuing between NZ and the EU, a recent US court ruling allowing the country to use the generic name Gruyére is being welcomed here.

NZ Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) president Catherine MacNamara told Dairy News that it welcomes the news that cheesemakers in the US have been given the green light to continue to use the generic name Gruyére.

"The US is an interesting case for a single cheese name without a geographic reference to be approved," MacNamara says.

"The NZSCA always thought that it would be harder to protect a name without a geographical reference.

"The organisation will follow the case as closely as possible for an indication that Gruyére may be able to continue to be used in New Zealand."

She says if NZ loses any of these generic cheese names, the cheese industry will have to rebrand and re-educate consumers - a very time consuming and expensive exercise. "The association believes that the move by the EU to claim exclusive use of generic cheese names, would give the EU an unfair advantage in our marketplace.

"This recent ruling in the US provides some hope that we too can retain the use of these names."