Can you protect a cheese? A high European court says no.

Can you protect a taste?

This was the question put to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which was asked to determine whether a Dutch company could claim exclusive rights to its cheese spread.

On Tuesday, the court offered its answer: No.

The case was introduced five years ago by the Dutch company Levola. Levola sells since 2001 Heks'nkaas (witch cheese), a silky white cheese. It is a blend of cream cheese, parsley, garlic and leek. In 2013, rival company Smilde began creating a series called Witte Wievenkaas, which also refers to witches. The product included many of the same ingredients.

Levola said something was not feeling good, accusing Smilde of copying his product.

But the Court of Justice is not convinced, saying that only "original intellectual creation" can claim copyright.

"Objects protected by copyright must be expressed in such a way as to be identifiable with sufficient precision and objectivity," said the court, such as a book, a television show, or a work of art. "In this regard, the Court concludes that the taste of a food product can not be identified accurately and objectively."

The court said that taste is subjective and that different people experiment with food differently. Therefore, a taste is not the same as a movie or book, for example, that is immutable. Tastes "depend, inter alia, on factors specific to the person who will taste the product concerned, such as age, food preferences and eating habits, as well as the environment or the context in which the product is consumed, "said the court.

The chase is not as crazy as it looks. In 2006, the Dutch courts decided that Lancôme could protect the scent of its perfumes. (In 2013, French courts found the opposite.)

Joshua Marshall, European Intellectual Property Lawyer, told The New York Times that the decision made sense. "The copyright is not meant to be used to stop the spread and use of ideas," he said. "The taste of a leek and garlic cheese is really an idea."