So the Court of Appeal in the US has decided that American producers can call an American cheese "Gruyère." Well we can't do that sort of thing on this side of the pond. We are very happy in Europe to allow Gruyère to be a protected name, made in certain areas of France or Switzerland only to strict standards. The yanks can also make "Parmesan." Well we can't do that just anywhere here either: it must be made to strict standards in a restricted area of northern Italy only. It's bad enough that everywhere in the world can make "cheddar cheese," but at least we have a separate designation that is strictly protected ("West Country Farmhouse Cheddar") that must be produced in a traditional way using local milk, made only in a restricted region of south-west England: don't tell the yanks in case they steal that name too). Cheddar is a small village in a picturesque part of Somerset, in case anyone is asking.

Certain wineries in the US are STILL permitted to call their sparkling wine "champagne." Well we can't do that either, and we can't even put "methode champenoise" on sparkling wine labels, even if the wine is made in exactly the same way as champagne from the same grapes but in a different region.

I think the US stance is an outrage. Make your cheese (most which is terrible, I hear) and make up your own local names and stop trying to pretend it's something it isn't. Stop riding roughshod and degrading the names of highly reputable and traditional produce.