Cyprus have a stinker over cheese trade mark efforts

Growing in popularity, halloumi has become a well-loved, if slightly chewy, cheese.

It seems this popularity has not gone unnoticed, as for some time Cyprus has tried to maintain their trade mark protection for the name.

Monitored by the Cypriot Ministry for Energy, Commerce and Tourism, halloumi is Cyrus’s flagship product, hence their eagerness to keep the trade mark.

Their UK trade mark for ‘Halloumi’ was attacked by John and Pascalis Ltd who filed three applications to revoke and invalidate the trade mark.

Due to a lack of response from the Ministry, the invalidity was successful, and the mark was cancelled.

The Ministry then filed an appeal based on missing the deadlines, but this was refused. The Ministry had received the papers but had not responded it time and this was not enough for a successful appeal.

While the Ministry tried to argue they had grounds on which to appeal the decision, ultimately it came down to their mistake and their failure to keep on the ball and respond in time. Deadlines are there for a reason and are to be followed by everyone, even a Country’s Ministry.

Let this be a lesson to us all, don’t chew over your options for too long- get ahead of that deadline.

If you need any trade mark assistance, please contact the Trademarkroom team today.