Queens (and kings) come in all sorts but I have never heard of the beautiful Curry Queen, who serves the "World's Finest Currywurst", according to a device trade mark, which was filed at OHIM on 17 September 2007 by 'physical persons' Sascha Basler and Bianka Habermann from Hamburg. The application covers classes 29 (charcuterie), 30 (sauces) and 43 (providing of food and drink). More information on the 'Curry Queen' can be retrieved from www.curryqueen.eu. The Curry Queen defines a currywurst as a "curry spiced veal sausage of a high and fine quality".

Definition is important in this field because even though currywursts might all look the same but some currywursts appear 'more equal than others'. The entry for currywurst on German wikipedia for example distingueshes between currywurst from Berlin, currywurst 'aus dem Ruhrgebiet' [from the Ruhr region in Northern Germany] and even - this is not a joke - "VW-currywurst"! The Berlin currywurst appears in two varieties: 'Currywurst mit' which have a casing (originally from intestines) and 'Currywurst ohne' that lack a casing. The latter one was apparently developed in former GDR due to scarcity of casings. The 'Berlin currywurst' is fried like French fries, cut in pieces and served with a variety of different types of curry sauce.

Currywurst is unquestionably an anthem of German fast food but in the end it is just a sausage, and a lot of countries serve their own sausage specialties even in fast food circles. The Dutch for example serve the famous 'frikandel', while the Belgians also serve 'frikandels' albeit under a different name, which is usually 'curryworst'. Furthermore the 'currywurst' served in Berlin can be compared to the 'cervella' that can be ordered in a Belgian 'fish and chips' shop.

However, according to a report by Brett Neely on http://www.marketplace.publicradio.org/ this is not the reason why the Berlin butchers guild seems anxious to seek trademark protection. In the report Simone Schiller, a spokesperson for the Berlin butchers, advises that the Berlin currywurst endangered: "Producers from outside can produce Berliner currywurst in another country or in another town and bring it to Berlin, and then you can sell it as "Berliner Currywurst".' According to Ms. Schiller there has been an influx of 'cheap sausages from the new Eastern European members of the European Union'.

So, the Berlin butchers have applied for protection as a geographical indication, which Marketplace calls a geographic trade mark. Alex Nordemann, an attorney with Boehmert and Boehmert, who has been interviewed by Marketplace, expects that the butchers will not succeed easily at the German Patent Office because the sausage itself is not a 'Berliner currywurst'. He is quoted as saying "'it's the sauce, not the sausage that makes the dish; and trade mark law will not protect the sauce." Although I agree with Nordemann that this issue is not a big issue and that a lot of Germans (and indeed many nationals of other country too) will apply the idiom 'Es ist mir wurst' (translated in the interview as 'It's all sausage to me').

I dare to disagree with Nordemann not on the idiom but on the merits. Please have a look at this link and see for yourself which other German sausages are protected. These are, amongst others, Nürnberger Bratwürste and Thüringer Rostbratwurst. Even a typical sauce as such could be protectable. Bon appetit!