Will 'food taste' be subject to copyright protection? A trial that contested for

by jill 111

The court judged about "the taste of food can be protected by copyright?" In a trial caused by appealing copyright protection as imitating the taste of cheese. According to the European Court of Justice, the taste is not protected by copyright.

Hard cheese: the taste of food can not be copyrighted, EU court says - DutchNews.nl
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/11/hard-cheese-the-taste-of-food-cannot-be-copyrighted-eu-court-says/

Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court - BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46193818

Can the taste of cheese be copyrighted? An EU court says no - Quartz
https://qz.com/1462742/can-the-taste-of-cheese-by-copyrighted-an-eu-court-says-no/

In 2007, Levola of the Netherlands company developed and released a paint cheese "Heksenkaas" mixed with cream cheese and herbs as aka "witches' cheese" (witch's cheese). After that, in 2014 another cheese called "Witte Wievenkaas" which another Dutch company called Smilde made with a material similar to Heksenkaas was put on sale under the alias "wise women's cheese". According to Levola, Witte Wievenkaas had the same taste as Heksenkaas.

The left of the following image is Heksenkaas and the right is Witte Wievenkaas.

From this, Levola sued Smilde as "wise women's cheese is a copyright infringement". Although the two were fighting about "the taste of food is protected by copyright?", On November 13, 2018, the European Court of Justice finally concluded that "taste can not be protected by copyright" I gave it down.

According to the European Court of Justice, it is necessary to be able to classify the taste as "work" in order to claim copyright. And for this we need to meet the following two requirements.

1: That thing itself is original intellectual creation
2: There is "expression" that can be distinguished with sufficient precision and objectivity for itself

If it is literature, painting, movie, music, "there is" expression "that can be identified with sufficient accuracy and objectivity", basically the "taste" of food is subjective. Because the way you feel depends on the age and preference of the person who eats, the eating habit, the situation at the time of eating, the taste can not meet the second of the above requirements. Also, even if people who ate two kinds of cheese said different impressions as "similar taste" "different taste", there is no judgment criterion just to measure which is correct.

For the reasons stated above, the European Court of Justice says that "accurate and objective technical means of distinguishing one taste from another taste differently from food taste can not be developed in the current science", Levita I dismissed the appeal.

This was not the first time that the European Court of Justice made legal decisions about food, but in July 2018, as a trademark registration for the shape of four sets of kitcut called "Four finger" The judgment is shown as not admitting.

by SCEhardt