We remember this from last year…looks like Halloumi us back in court for another grilling ( apologies we couldn’t resisit the pun)
Here’s some more puns from the financial mirror…
While Cyprus’ traditional squeaky cheese is being grilled in courtrooms across the world, the battle over what makes a halloumi is still brewing at home.
The famous white cheese is in for another bumpy ride in the UK as legal battle over a trademark for halloumi is maturing in a London court.
The court case is just one out of 80 cases involving dairy producers around the world trying to register their version of halloumi by employing a number of tricks.
At the same time, an aging battle between the country’s authorities and dairy producers over the ratio of cow’s and goat milk in the mix is reigniting, as a deal between the goat and sheep farmers and dairy producers goes south.
Regarding the legal battlefield in the UK and other international courts, Panayiota Patsali, a senior officer at the Commerce and Energy Ministry, told the Financial Mirror that the ministry is in some 80 court rooms around the world trying to fend off a number of dairy producers from registering a grill type cheese as halloumi.
One such case was reported by Bloomberg, saying that Cyprus is challenging a Hungarian dairy company, Babel Sajt Kft, that wants to register a trademark named “Hadjú Halloumi”.
As confirmed by Patsali, “a UK hearing officer in March had ruled in favour of the Hungarians, finding that halloumi did not have a reputation among a significant portion of the general public and that there weren’t any chances of confusion between the brands”.
She explained that Babel Sajt argued that the name it uses is clearly different from Cyprus’ “Halloumi,” as “Hadjú” is written in big letters above ‘Halloumi’ which is written in smaller letters.
Patsali stressed that if this case is not won by Cyprus’ legal team, it could set the future of Cypriot cheese in the UK in danger, as halloumi products could be pushed off the shelf by other similar cheeses using the word ‘halloumi’ somewhere in their label.
“If lost, the case could set the ground for a number of grill cheeses to displace our halloumi from supermarkets in the UK, encouraging of course other dairy producers with similar ideas,” said Patsali.
She said that Cyprus’ defence in UK courts is based on the argument that grill cheeses like the one produced by Babel Sajt Kft, does not meet the necessary requirements to use the word “halloumi” in their trademark.
