New Zealand gives up its fight for manuka honey name in EU, UK

In a win for Australian manuka honey producers, New Zealand has withdrawn its appeal in the UK and similar legal proceedings in the EU for exclusive ownership of the manuka honey name.

New Zealand appears to have capitulated on its years-long battle to monopolise the billion dollar global manuka honey market everywhere but on home turf.

A group of New Zealand manuka honey producers have given up on legal proceedings in the United Kingdom and the European Union for exclusive use of the manuka honey name.

The Australian Manuka Honey Association was informed late last month the Kiwis had withdrawn their appeal before the UK’s High Court and a similar legal proceeding in the EU, leaving Australian producers free to market their products as Australian manuka honey without fear of legal retribution.

AMHA chair Paul Callander informed Australian honey producers on Monday, describing the development as a “victory”.

“This provides our industry with a noble precedent against some in NZ who are attempting to monopolise the term manuka honey for their own commercial gain,” he said.

Australian producers are now free to market their manuka honey in the European Union and United Kingdom.

The New Zealand producers, who have banded together as the Manuka Honey Appellation Society, were attempting to appeal the UK Intellectual Property Office’s rejection of their application to trademark the words “manuka honey” in late 2021.

Their application for a “manuka honey” certification mark in the EU has also been abandoned.

It follows five years of legal battles and trademark applications across the US, EU, UK, China and New Zealand to stop Australian manuka producers from marketing their products as “manuka honey”, with none being successful.

The legal stoushes did however cast a cloud over the Australian manuka industry, which feared it could have been robbed of the almost $1.27 billion global market just as the product’s popularity soars.

Mr Callander said the New Zealanders may have abandoned their legal stoushes as their bills and losses continued to mount.

“They spent a lot of money on this and we’ll be awarded costs. If they continue and lose again, there would be serious ramifications with the payment of moneys they have received (to fund their case),” he said.

The New Zealand government has stumped up at least $1.7 million to support MHAS’s legal pursuits.

The only fight still outstanding is in New Zealand, with a finding expected before July this year from the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office following a hearing last year on the MHAS’s application to trademark the words “manuka honey” on home soil.

Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck said New Zealand’s pursuit of exclusive use of the manuka name has diverted efforts in beekeeping industries on both sides of the Tasman for too long, and welcomed news they had dropped their legal battles in the EU and UK.

“The global market is big enough for both Australia and New Zealand in what is a very unique product,” he said.

“Now that this process has come to a conclusion, we trust that resources can be put to positive use in growing markets rather than unnecessarily fighting futile claims.”

Tasmanian beekeeper Lindsay Bourke is looking forward to renewed export demand for his manuka honey. PICTURE CHRIS KIDD

Tasmanian manuka honey producer Lindsay Bourke hoped the development would allow Australian producers to carry on selling their stock overseas, a task hampered for years owing to the dispute with New Zealand.

“A lot of us who were exporters have been carrying stock for too long, and hopefully if the (federal) government can work out some of these trade disputes it will be very welcome for us,” he said.

The trans-Tasman battle hinges on the New Zealanders’ claim that manuka is a Maori word that references a native tree where bees pollinate and produce honey.

But the same plant, a type of Tea Tree, is native to Australia, which is home to 83 of the 87 known Leptospermum species.

New Zealand has just the one Leptospermum species that many believe blew over from either Victoria or Tasmania.