On 8 June 2010, the Cologne Court upheld the preliminary injunction granted inaudita altera parte on 26 January 2010 against the German Fuchs Gewürze Group, preventing the latter producer of seasoning products from marketing seasonings and cheese mixes under the name ‘Parmetta’.
Background
The case concerns the Parmigiano Reggiano PDO, registered in 1996 under Regulation No 2081/92 (now Regulation No 510/06) on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs.
The defendant marketed a seasoning – consisting of 54 percent grated hard cheese, 17 percent cheese preparations and 29 percent spices – under the denomination ‘PARMETTA’, distributed under the trade mark ‘FUCHS’. The seasoning packaging showed the image of a hard cheese.
Decision
In its ruling, referring to the case law in Gorgonzola (Case C-87/97) and Parmesan II (C-132/05), the Court explicitly recognized that use of the term ‘PARMETTA’ for a seasoning containing cheese, which therefore has to be deemed as a product comparable to cheese, clearly evokes the PDO ‘PARMIGIANO REGGIANO’, irrespective of the existence of a risk of confusion which is not a necessary condition for protection of names registered as a PDO.
According to the Court the suffix –ETTA was not sufficient to exclude evocation; on the contrary, due to its Italian sound, it even strengthened a link with the Italian territory. In addition, the image of a hard cheese (all too similar to Parmigiano Reggiano) as well as the suggestion on the packaging to use the seasoning on pizza and pasta, further enhanced this link.
The Court dismissed all of the defendant’s arguments, according to which there was no evocation at all and that at the most the term PARMETTA evoked PARMESAN which, on its turn, evoked “PARMIGIANO REGGIANO”.
In conclusion, the Court agreed with the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Consortium that the use of the name ‘Parmetta' constituted violation of Article 13 (1)(b) PDO/PGI Regulation (EC) No 510/06 by evoking the Protected Designation of Origin Parmigiano Reggiano.
In addition, the Court ordered Fuchs to pay the costs of the proceedings.
Fuchs’ lawyers have informed the Consortium of the defendant’s decision not to lodge any further appeal against the decision.
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