gruyère

This is the term that the Americans use for what we call Swiss cheese. They were taken to task by the cheese producers of France and Switzerland who wanted to claim that only the cheese produced in the Gruyère region of Switzerland and France could be given this name. The American court judge commented that this type of cheese had been called gruyère in America for decades and that the word — at least in America — was a generic term.  While gruyère is the general term, the US Food and Drug Administration does insist on a standard definition. It must have small holes in it and it must have been aged for at least 90 days. The European cheese producers say they will carry on the fight.

It takes me back to the ugg boot battle when the American court was not interested in the word’s generic use in Australia.  It is only generic use in American English that counts in an American court.  In addition there was a US company which had, in good faith, bought the trademark and that is all the US court needed to know.

The gruyère battle doesn’t worry us because we had adopted Swiss cheese as the generic term, but no doubt there will be others that do affect us.