“Whether copyright protection protects tastes has been stirring up emotions in European legal circles for some time. Some say that such protection would be contrary to the idea-expression dichotomy, the notion that ideas and principles underlying any element of a work can never be protected. Others argue protecting taste would negatively affect free competition, among other things. Allowing taste copyright would lead to creative stagnation because when chefs invent new dishes and thus tastes, they always build on already existing dishes.”
So writes Prof Charles Gielen, Research Fellow of the Chair of IP Law, and Marlous Schrijvers, senior associate at NautaDutilh N.V. in a new article about a pending case before the Court of Justice of the European Union involving two flavours of cheese spread.
Considering the questions before the CJEU, this case promises to be interesting to say the least.
The full article is available to read here.
