Americans will be able to produce and sell their cheese under the name “Gruyère”, despite the protected name “Gruyère”, according to a ruling in the United States. The Swiss producers have announced that they will appeal.

38 comments

  1. > The term gruyere is understood by the American public as a generic term that does not necessarily refer to a particular geographic area

    Ok Let’s call the United-States Mexico then

  5. In the US these protections don’t exist for foreign producers. They like to talk about protections, trademarks etc, but only for me, not for thee.

  12. US law recognizes trademarks assigned to private entities. It does not recognize place-of-origin as a protected name if it is considered “generic” . This is why you can buy “Champagne” made in California in the US.

    Disclaimer: IANAL,BIPOOTI

  13. Shipping refrigerated cheeses to the other side of the world probably isn’t very sustainable, so I’m fine with Americans producing their own “gruyere” locally, as long as it stays there.

  14. That will be a fortune spent in legal processes over I don’t know how many years (it has already been going on for a while), all that to end up with a compromise such as the American producers only allowed to use “Gruyère” without the final S.

    Nice PR stunt, though. The news are all about it.

  15. It’s not surprising me at all. We weakness our geopolitical position by not signing the Rahmenvertrag. We are alone.

    In the railway industry, the swiss manufacturer, Stadler Rail, lose tendering to sell trains.

    EU called scientists to join a Horizon research center. We would not see this in the past.

    Now, a US court ruled against us despite we are buying F-35.

    And we can find others examples since last spring.

    Switzerland* is isolating itself and countries take advantage of it.

  19. As someone who is American and buys actual Guryere from Switzerland this kinda disheartens me , because I dont need an Americanised version , America is known for its own cheeses dont know why it needs to take others , I can guess price issues maybe but even so , to me it will just be a mass produced mess 🙁

  24. I think that’s a double standard. On one hand the US is prosecuting and investigate foreign companies outside of US in terms of validation for copyright and trademark issues but as long it is benefits the US it is fine..

  27. eh….

    I think we Europeans get a little self important over these designations.

    First we don’t ever apply any criticality to how much lobbying for designations is done by people who want to make sure it prevents new entrances into the market. When Cornish pasties got the same protection, it was not small batch makers or people of cornwall fighting for it, but rather Ginsters – a mass producer of honestly some of the worst “ready to go” foods you can find. Nothing about the Ginsters pasties is authentic to traditional pasties beyond a surface level, but they’re mass produced in cornwall so it counts?

    Also some of these terms are over restricted… many protected names are not foods made from things only available in a region, or even in a region that only had those. Newcastle Brown Ale had to file or a change to the protection because it moved it’s factory to the *other side* of the river…. Same people, same recipe, same water… But different postcode.

    It would be insane to protect cheddar because it’s such a commonly made cheese everywhere… Fair enough like “Welsh Cheddar” or “Black Country Cheddar” but as one term it would make no sense. There’s no logical reason cheddar is unprotected in the EU but Gruyere should be.

    Besides… Didn’t switzerland kick up a fuss about bundnerfleisch being categorised because of rules like this? I know it has an exemption for regional production so that it can be made even outside of switzerland, but also there was some whinging about it some legislation due to it being cured not dried (or reverse).

    There’s a real lack of uniformity in how the EU does this stuff, and it usually ends up being “Which industry could throw the most money at the problem to protect themselves from someone two valleys over also making a hard cheese”

  32. Swiss and Italian producers should counterfeit some premium American food product. If only such thing existed.

  33. It won’t fool anybody who knows what the real thing is. But, still, they could have chosen another name, like “Swiss style Gruyere”.

  34. Yankee’s arrogance has no limits. They not only produce bad food, but they also steel others protected designations of origin.

  36. Welcome to the club – US (and Russia) are among the very few countries that do not recognize the AOP “Champagne”.

    At the same time, seeing the quality of their agricultural produce, it’s not like they need any AOP for their own produce…

  38. Brought to you by the same country that would not let plum producers use the the term “dried plums” instead of “prunes” because it might “confuse the consumer.” We are such hypocritical nation it is embarrassing. We insist our property rights are protected while trampling other’s. Embarrassing. At least I know to keep a lookout for the counterfeit now.

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