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New Zealand’s honey producers are appealing a trademark ruling by the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office that allows honey from other countries to be sold in the UK as manuka honey.
The ruling last year was a big win for Australian producers trying to move in on the market created for the New Zealand product.
Manuka Charitable Trust chair Pita Tipene says it’s not appropriate for honey producers in another country to use the name manuka when the plant and the nectar came from did not grow in this country.
He says Aotearoa New Zealand is the only country with a government-regulated export definition that all honey exported as manuka need to meet test requirements,.
It’s also an indigenous rights issue and the UK is out of step with indigenous intellectual property frameworks and consumers’ demand for authenticity and quality.
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