Food Fight!

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It took the consortium 10 years and about $1 million to establish Parma ham as a U.S. trademark, says Biltchik. (About $50 million of the air-dried meat is sold annually in the U.S.) And Canadian law is clearly insufficient from the Italians' perspective. To this day, the Parma ham from Parma can't call itself that in Canada, because a food company called Maple Leaf Meats registered the Parma name as its own back in 1971. When the Parma consortium began exporting directly to Canada in the mid-1990s, Maple Leaf Meats sued and won. The Italian consortium now sells its ham in Canada under the name "the original ham."

Previous efforts at food-name protection have had mixed results. Beginning in 1935, the French government created a system known as the Appellation of Controlled Origin (AOC) to protect wine makers. Only wines made according to long-established traditions can use the AOC name. Over the past decade, Champagne, Bordeaux and other AOC denominations have successfully pushed for this system to be recognized outside Europe; many countries have signed agreements with the E.U. that outlaw use of those names. The big exception is the U.S., where a 1994 law specifically allowed any domestic wine maker to use names such as Champagne, Chianti, Burgundy or Chablis. As a result, about 60% of sparkling wine made in the U.S. is called champagne, says Tommy Bruce, who represents French champagne in the U.S. This year he launched an ad campaign in the U.S. that asked: "Washington apples from Nevada? Florida oranges from Maine? Champagne not from Champagne?"

As odd as these battles can be, it's even odder what the E.U. has chosen not to protect. Probably the single best-known cheese in the world — that named after Cheddar, England — is not on the E.U.'s list. Why? Probably because only a small amount of cheese is produced in that Somerset town. Still, the history of food-name protection is encouraging to some Europeans, who in the early 1990s established a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Parmigiano-Reggiano was accepted as a PDO in 1996. Then, last year, the E.U.'s highest court ruled that Parmesan was the official translation of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and thus should also be protected. One result: Kraft has already had to change the name of its grated cheese in Europe, to Pamesello Italiano.

New E.U. legislation has extended protection for foods even further. The Parma ham consortium filed suit in the 1990s against Britain's Asda supermarket chain, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, to stop the store from slicing and packaging the ham itself. The consortium acknowledged that Asda was using real Parma ham, but argued that to condone the practice would erode its control over ham standards. The consortium was on the verge of losing the case when the E.U. passed new rules earlier this year that gave it control of how the product is retailed. Asda, which complained about "barmy Parma" rules, says it now buys its ham presliced by a consortium member.

Errico Auricchio also thinks this type of protection is baloney. Born in Naples, he moved to the U.S. 24 years ago and started a cheese company in Denmark, Wisconsin. Many of his products are on the E.U.'s list, including Parmesan, Gorgonzola and Asiago. Two years ago, Auricchio introduced a new product called Parveggiano. When he tried to use the name after registering it, the Italians sued, saying the name was too similar to Parmigiano, which they have trademarked in the U.S. The two sides recently settled out of court, but Auricchio is undeterred. "It's crazy. It will backfire on them. They cannot supply Parmesan cheese all over the world," he complains. As for the names, "Italian is just an adjective. We call them French fries and English muffins but we don't think they come from France or England.