CEASE AND DESIST. I NEVER THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN!

well g'day curd nerds uh this video is a bit of a strange one uh i received a cease and desist letter from who are they the consortium for the protection of padano cheese yes this is one of those videos so a intellectual property company who are representing the consortium for the protection of grana padano cheese sent me an email yesterday late last night and let me just read it to you it says dear mr webber kindly see attached cease and desist letter concerning your use of registered trademark grana padano youtube looking forward to receiving your feedback best regards uh giorgio lombardi well thank you very much for your kind letter giorgio i shall now read the letter to all of the curd nodes so it says goodness mate this is a purler dear sir i'm writing on behalf of the consortium which is entitled to safeguard the designation of origin grana padano and watches over the production and commercialization of grana padano cheese as you may know the domination oh you know the domination grana padano is registered and protected as pdo which stands for protection designation of origin under regulation eu number blah blah blah in this regard please note that the pdo can only be used in connection with products that are registered in a defined geographic area and have particular characteristics that also also the regards for grating slicing and packaging of these items okay yep so i knew that and i actually stated it in the grana padano video that i made and here's a little snippet of the intro of the video so yes i said style cheese it's not the real deal it's not grana padano it should be a fairly hard italian cheese that is grainy just like grana padano is and its cousin parmesan or parmigiano-reggiano so it is not any of these two pdo cheeses or protection designation of origin so uh please don't flame me in the comments below so you can clearly see that i stated that this is not grand padano cheese because it is a pdo protected cheese anyway the thing oh the the letter goes on to say uh moreover the consortium has obtained in australia several trademark uh registrations all covering cheese in class 29 considering in the words grana padano for example blah blah blah anyway i'll post the letter uh in the description below so everybody can have a look at it if they really want to the consortium found out that you uploaded uh on youtube the video entitled uh how to make grana padano style cheese available at and they quote the link in this regard i will this this is funny anyway i'll keep going uh in this regard i wish to inform you that the above described contact conduct i can't even get my words right conduct is a clear infringement of the consortium's intellectual property rights indeed your video seems to describe how to create counterfeit replicas of grana padano cheese really okay on the other hand youtube users could understand that grana padano can be produced anywhere on the contrary the specific rules for production of grana padano require that it is created in the production area in italy by authorized entities uh controlled by the consortium and in big bold letters it says in the light of the above i kindly ask you to immediately remove your video available at the link which is the grana padano video i look forward to receiving your positive feedback within five days of receipt of this letter should you fail to comply with the above the consortium will not hesitate to take the necessary steps to ensure the protection of its trademark rights yours faithfully giorgio lombardi so what makes me laugh about all of this is that i must have got fairly close to the mark as far as nailing the recipe for this cheese i think not only they're trying to protect their brand which is fine that's perfectly okay that it's the law but i must have really nailed the grana padano recipe uh and uh for me to give that sort of letter they uh obviously were pretty upset that i got their recipe fairly close i know that when i tasted the cheese and they haven't asked for the taste test video to be taken down so you can go and check that out um at the little info link over there so what i have to do obviously i've got to take down the grana padano video really i suppose i don't have a leg to stand on even though i did state in the video this is not grana padano this is guarana panano style it's obviously not even the same size as you know a 40 kilogram wheel of grana padano however this is how pedantic uh the consortium wants to be then i will comply with their wishes i'll take down the video anyway i will be taking the video down today's friday so i've got five days to comply i received the email yesterday so friday saturday sunday so sunday night i will take down the grana padano video so until that time if you want to go and watch it and use the recipe then that's perfectly fine that's up to you i will comply with their wishes and take down the video so in the future when i make a pdo or aoc cheese style i will definitely not be calling it the name of the cheese i'll come up with my own name and i would do it in a style and you'll see hints in the videos that uh basically uh kind of indicate what style of cheese it is but this is beyond as far as i'm concerned it's beyond a joke but like i said i will comply with the cease and desist letter anyway thank you for watching curd nerds i know this is a bit of a weird one but i definitely this one was out of the blue i never thought this would actually happen to a small home cheese maker put your thoughts in the comments below on the in the video i'd love to hear what you've got to say did i overstep the bounds of their intellectual property or is it just a storm and a teacup and they're just trying to protect their brand uh with ever whatever means necessary i really thought if i got one it'll be from the parmesan group but uh yeah grana padano there you go they're really protecting their intellectual property uh which look if somebody did that to me and it was a blatant um blatant misuse of my intellectual property then yeah i'd probably get upset too and uh and write a letter and send a cease and desist but uh yeah very formal and uh yeah thank you very much uh consortium anyway like i said leave your comments uh below if you you think either way anyway thanks for watching curd nerds uh and there'll be a regular cheese making video out this week as well uh members and patrons have already got a sneak peek at it uh and it's all about cheese boards very exciting stuff i really enjoyed making it was great uh all right thanks for watching curd nerds and i will see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Gavin Webber

Views: 241,989

Keywords: Grainy italian cheese, cease and desist, gavin webber, cease and desist letter, never thought that this would happen

Id: M_AzMLhPF1Q

Length: 9min 28sec (568 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/will_you_suck_my_ass]

Made a new folder in my archives called forbidden cheese videos

Edit: Update! The consortium has sent an apology letter to Gavin webber. He is still taking down the video but will give us a surprise on Monday after his stream.

Consortium apology letter video

[u/actually_8bit]

The video in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6T_BJjitGQ

It shows how to make a cheese in the style of Grana Padano, a name protected by origin. Italian lawyers are giving him five days to remove it.

The letter (pdf):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Et4MvITYvb11JmQgBVUgbhRtNQ-RSlbo/view

[u/Xyperias]

I’d just rename the video to “How to make cheese that is very similar in taste and consistency to Grana Padano cheese” and ignore their letter.

[u/will_you_suck_my_ass]

Lol streisand effect?

[u/MC_chrome]

I’d say we should do one better: archive the video and continually upload it to YouTube to continually annoy the piss out of this stupid cheese consortium that has apparently gotten too big for their britches. There was nothing inherently illegal in what this YouTuber did, and I absolutely despise organizations who abuse flimsy laws and controls on YouTube to go after others because their feelings were hurt.

[u/PlasmaTartOrb]

Cheese and desist.

[u/WorBlux]

I would write a response along the lines of...

Dear cheese baron,

None of the cheeses featured in my videos are ever offered in trade and as such are unable to violate any Australian trademark.

I realized that the cheese I made is not entitled to be sold or distributed under the Grana Pradano CDO. I made no attempt to do so, and told viewers throughout the video that the cheese should NOT be be considered true "Grana Pradano". I was using the term only to describe end result of the style attributes (hardness, texture, flavor) I was trying to achieve.

I am a home cheese-maker making video for the home cheese-maker experimenting with different styles and recipes. I in no way wish to suggest than anyone worldwide may make a cheese that may be sold as Grana Pradano, but rather that anyone is capable of making a cheese with similar attributes to be consumed at home or sold in accordance of all applicable laws.

I believe that at it's core my video does not violate and specific trademark protection offered in Australia. If you disagree please point out the relevant statute or case law you rest your argument on. My video are meant to be educational and informative and not as a counterfeiting guide and I've intentionally avoided replicating the exact grating, slicing, and packaging of Grana Pradano to help avoid confusion.

In the interest of good faith, I am immediately removing public access to the video as currently titled and edited. However I plan to re-release after editing that clarifies the relation of my cheese to Grana Pradano and emphasizing your trademark claims outlined in this letter.

I plant to give you 5 days notice and a private video link before releasing the edited video. If you have any specific edits you'd like to see, I'd be more than happy to accommodate reasonable requests now, or at that time.

​

--sincerly little cheese guy

[u/thelordfolken81]

I have a sudden urge to start making bootleg cheese ....

[u/DaVyper]

should voice over and reupload, calling it "Grandma's Patanto" :P