Intellectual property law is essential to protecting a food
business in a competitive market. A food business should have a
clear understanding of the intellectual property rights available
to protect its market position. Intellectual property law is
constantly evolving, which makes a recent attempt by a cheese
manufacturer to protect the taste of its product using
copyright particularly interesting.
The European Court of Justice (the
"CJEU") has ruled that the taste of food
cannot be protected by copyright as it cannot be "pinned
down with precision and objectivity". This decision
delineates a limit in terms of product protection for food
manufacturers, and in terms of non-traditional copyrights more
generally.
