I wish you people should all stop saying "Europeans" like that, because this is most definitely not a "European" thing, it is mainly a French, German, and Italian thing. We up here in the north thinks it's just as ridiculous that we can't call champagne "champagne" if it isn't from Champagne as the rest of the world.
what you are missing is that many things which became generic on the american side of the pond, are not and were never considered generic on the european side.
This is not true. "Champagne", for example, was definitely a generic term for "sparkling wine" up here in our culture, but because it is used differently in France we can no longer call champagne "champagne". Of course, Swedish tradition, language, and cultural heritage is not important down on the continent.
So yeah, I'm with Bauglir on this. It make no sense for French to demand that the US (or any other country) should follow their naming convention. It's just the usual French/Germ self-interest and idea that their cultures are more "correct" than other peoples'.
Hell, it can even take downright stupid forms sometimes. For example, back in the day the Swedish glass crafting company Orrefors invented a way to make crystal glass that doesn't involve lead, which is pretty damned nice as lead, as I think we all know, is poisonous and we should really not want that in say our drinking glasses or other tableware. Of course, Orrefors patented this method, as was well their right, and obviously non-Orrefors glass makers started lobbying to the EU to intervene. So what did the EU do? Surely they came down on the side of the invention and entrepreneurship and acknowledged that through this non-lead method that company had come up with a way to make crystal that was both safer to produce and healthier to use, and that this method gave them an advantage on the market that was completely in line with the terms and competitiveness of the free market? Of course not. They ruled that only glass containing at least 14% toxic lead oxide could be called "crystal", and that Orrefors had to call their crystal products something else. But hey, I guess the EU was just protecting theit cultural heritage. Because that's really a situation in which we want "cultural heritage" to overrule new innovation.