An Aroma Worth Fighting For?

A Lithuanian restaurant chain has baffled legal experts by making a bid to trademark the aroma of freshly baked pizza.

The Cilija firm, which has numerous outlets both in Lithuania and neighbouring Latvia, is nervous of rivals reeling out the 'freshly baked pizza' slogan.

"Opinion polls show that many consumers in Lithuania identify the pleasure of eating pizza with our trademark," touts Mindaugas Gumauskas, marketing director of the Cilija enterprise.

"This makes us believe that the scent of freshly baked pizza is subject to our copyright" he added.

If the firm's bid is approved, rival restaurants will still be able to rustle up the oven-baked dish, but they will have to keep quiet about that 'freshly baked' taste. Needless to say, Lithuanian pizzerias are not amused - they hold that the Cilija should allow other companies to have a pizza the action. And on that appalling joke, we're off to lunch.