(Arutz Sheva) Food giant Unilever has lost under US law the right to protect the Ben & Jerry’s trademark in Judea and Samaria, according to the Shurat Hadin legal organization.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the organization had submitted an application to the Israeli Registrar of Companies to register a company called “Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream of Judea and Samaria”, which would receive legal protection to sell the exact same ice cream with the same brand name, and in fact compete with the original company after it announced its boycott of Judea and Samaria.
In a letter to Unilever, Shurat Hadin stated that under US law, the decision to commercially waive sales of Ben & Jerry’s in the territories of Judea and Samaria constitutes a waiver of the Ben & Jerrys trademark in those areas, and so Shurat Hadin now becomes the legal owners of the brand in the area.
The organization examined and found that under US law, in order to preserve trademark protection from the use of the brand by other parties, there must be full intent to conduct business in a particular area. Hence, once that person announces that he does not intend to operate in the same area, it means that his right to trademark the property no longer exists.
Shurat Hadin president Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, “Unilever is no longer able to enforce its trademark in these areas. These are our new weapons and approaches in the war against BDS: Anyone who stops selling his products in Israel will find that we have taken over his trademarks and rights. Ben & Jerry’s will regret the day they boycotted the State of Israel.”
