In Interprofession du Gruyere v. U. S. Dairy Exp. Council, 61 F.4th 407 (4th Cir. 2023), two European cheesemaking consortiums sought appellate review of a USPTO ruling, which sustained American cheesemaking companies’ opposition to the consortiums’ application to certify the mark “gruyere.” The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted the American cheesemaking companies’ motion for summary judgment, which was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit on appeal. The Fourth Circuit determined that the term “gruyere” is generic as a matter of law and reasoned that the common usage of “gruyere” established that when purchasers walk into retail stores and ask for gruyere, they regularly mean a type of cheese and not a cheese that was produced in the Gruyère region of Switzerland and France.
