BREAKING: CJEU says NO to copyright in the taste of a cheese
At last! The most exciting copyright day of the year has finally come: the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has just handed down its judgment in Levola Hengelo , C-310/17 ! As readers know, this was a referral for a preliminary ruling from The Netherlands, asking whether copyright could vest in the taste of a spreadable cheese. In an authoritative poll conducted on Twitter, 81% voted against sensory copyright (226 votes in total). The CJEU The AG Opinion In his Opinion [which remains unavailable in English] back in July [discussed here ] , Advocate General (AG) Wathelet had no doubts: the taste of a food product cannot enjoy copyright protection as a 'work'. While the concept of work is not defined at the level of EU legislation - including the InfoSoc Directive - this is something that should be regarded: (1) as an 'autonomous concept' of EU law, which should not be defined having regard to national laws; and (2) as a concept which should be interpr...