Non-Greek dairies must rename their feta cheese sold in Europe.(TRADE)

Kiplinger Agriculture Letter, The, November, 2005

Non-Greek dairies must rename their feta cheese sold in Europe.

The European Union's highest court says "feta" belongs to Greece.

U.S. exporters can label cheese as feta on all but sales within Europe.But they're examining the EU's trade commitments to accept feta importsand could wind up challenging the ruling before the World Trade Org.

The feta fight is perhaps the best known of many such disputes. The EU wants the rest of the world to enforce European product names for hundreds of EU foods and is pressing to implant supportive rules in the WTO trade agreement negotiations. But the WTO has already ruled to limit the EU protections, which won't find a home in the agreement.

Galling to the U.S.: The EU protects no American product names.