The European Court of Justice

This link, from www.confectionerynews.com (I don't know about you, but it's my one-stop shop for all my candy and snack-food news!) tells the story of the legendary Lindt Goldhase, which is marketed in English as the Gold Bunny, apparently because chocolate hares sound less appetizing. 

David Pryce-Jones at NRO reviews the story here. As he points out, steam is starting to knock in the boilers of the European Project, but the ECJ has found time to rule that the Swiss bunny is "devoid of any distinctive character."

For your correspondent, however, I look at this problem in a different light. Frankly, I'm relatively glad to see the ECJ is ruling on these kinds of matters, which do, apparently, fall under their purview, rather than dropping themselves into the politico-diplomatic cesspool the heads of government find themselves in at this time. It does, however, make me nervous to see that a product that is copyrighted in 60% of the EU's member states can be overturned. If anything, the ECJ should be working to enhance property rights, rather than watering them down, in an EU that is desperately in need of a strong emphasis on the rule of law at this time. The flourishing of cheap knock-offs is not the solution to Europe's problems.