European court rejects Cyprus’ application to word mark ‘Grilloumi’

The European General Court on Wednesday rejected Cyprus’ application to word mark the word “Grilloumi”, describing the case as “unfounded”.

The court found that there was no risk of confusion of the brand name “Grilloumi”, which is the name of a Swedish company which “specialises in Mediterranean food” and sells its own “authentic grill cheese from Greece”, with halloumi.

The Swedish company had registered their brand name as a trademark with the EU in 2016, but Cyprus filed an opposition to that registration in February the following year relying on the country’s 1992 registration of the word “halloumi” as a local product.

Cyprus’ case was initially rejected by the European Union Intellectual Property Office in 2018, and then had an appeal dismissed by the Fourth appellate court in the July of the same year.

Cyprus then asked the European Court of Justice to annul the decision in 2022, saying “an incorrect criterion was used to assess the likelihood of confusion”, and that “there was an error in the assessment of the distinctiveness” of the two words and products.

Wednesday’s decision marks the latest knockback for Cyprus in the saga, and the country now has two months to file an appeal, but “only in relation to legal issues”.