SINGAPORE: New Zealand honey producers have lost their latest battle against Australian beekeepers to trademark the name manuka. In a decision published on Monday (May 22), the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand ruled that the term manuka honey cannot be registered as a certification mar
SINGAPORE: New Zealand honey producers have lost their latest battle against Australian beekeepers to trademark the name manuka.
Manuka refers to a tree with white flowers from which bees collect nectar to produce a type of honey said to have antibacterial and health properties.But the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand noted that the manuka plant is native to both New Zealand and Australia.“A trademark that is descriptive of goods, and therefore not distinctive, cannot be registered for those goods unless the trademark has acquired distinctiveness, either through use or any other circumstance,” it said.
Calling the case one of the most complex and long-running proceedings to have come before it, the intellectual property office ordered MHAS to pay the Australian Manuka Honey Association NZ$6,430 in costs. “ confirms what we have been saying since New Zealand producers began this legal process nearly eight years ago - our product has a long history of being recognised as manuka honey, it is produced like the New Zealand product is, and it also offers the sought-after antimicrobial properties that consumers around the world value so highly,” he said.
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