The Battle for the Nuremberg Bratwurst

It took two court losses before Michael Beck, the owner of Nürnberger Bratwurst Glöckl am Dom, agreed to sell the original Nürnberger sausages his restaurant is named after.

The disagreement began in earnest after a preliminary trial when the owner publicly doubted the Nürnberger's origin.

"Containers of low quality pork are shipped to Nuremberg from the Netherlands," he said at his first court appearance in April, adding that he was worried that the peppery Nuremberg sausage wouldn't be good enough to satisfy his guests' demanding palates. "Neither the manufactures nor the ingredients for the sausage are from Nuremberg."

Nuremberg's residents obviously couldn't sit back and let someone attack their sausage and its over 300 years of history. Since the production Nürnbergers is protected by European Union rules that limit Nürnberger Bratwurst to those made in the Bavarian city with a prescribed recipe, the city took Beck back to court.

The judge left Beck the choice of either changing the establishment's name or abiding by EU rules, meaning that he would use sausages from Nuremberg and not those made out of just any Bavarian pork.

Things could get expensive for Beck if he doesn't follow the court's rule: He'd face a fine of 5,100 euros ($6,013) for every Nürnberger want-to-be he sells.