October 23, 2006

Hellimpolitik

Stravaraland has spent a small fortune and engaged in quite a few legal battles in order to safeguard the origin and trademark of its local cheese, Halloumi and yet it has overlooked an obvious weapon it could add to its diplomatic arsenal.

Why is it that we have not been trademarking and protecting the Hellim apellation? Hell, if that's what the Turkish Cypriots call it then it ought to be trademarked by the Republix.

Seeing as the Republix safeguards their right to Cypriot nationality, shouldn't we also ensure that our common heritage is protected in all its guises?

Of course hellim.com is taken and the ministry of [not] runny cheese will have yet another bozo to negotiate with (in addition to the owner of halloumi.com) for a domain name but, hey, either we do things right or we don't do a damned thing at all.

The danger, as I see it, is that if Turkey were to register Hellim in the EU, the US and Canada, their lobbying prowess - not to mention their marketing muscle - could send halloumi into oblivion.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What? T/Cs make halloumi you say? Duh, well we never thought... It's a conspiracy! A conspiracy I tell you, they are trying to steal it from under our nose and sell it those bloody Amerikanoi... A banayia mou, ou stravara mou... a banayia mou...

24 October, 2006 10:52  
Blogger Noullis said...

Calm down, brother, it's OK - for the time being. Halloumi is being sold at the average price one shells out for aged Parmesan in the U.S., so I don't thing the Yanks would ever go for an ethnically inferior product!!

According to research carried out by the people at Eurotoques, Cyprus, the T/Cs aso make flaounes - year round. How's that for blasphemy?

24 October, 2006 19:07  

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