President of the Lebanese Industrialists’ Association, Fadi Abboud, has argued that hummus is a Lebanese product.
Apparently, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman and founder of Jordan-based IP group Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg), has stated to World Trademark Review that “If it is made using Lebanese ingredients and a Lebanese recipe it should be sold as Lebanese hummus not Israeli hummus.”
“I’m not claiming or assuming that Lebanon has ownership of the production itself, rather that it has rights in the geographic name.”
Thus according to my learned, Jordanian colleague, it would appear that either Hummus is a Lebanese place name, or the problem is that Israel has been marketing Lebanese Hummus.
Ms. Hoda Barakat , managing partner and head of the IP department at Dubai-based Al Tamimi & Company (presumably no relation to the Baraket at Reinhold Cohn’s Law Office?), notes that although many Arab states do not have specific GI laws, GIs are often protected as certification marks under trademark legislation.
Abu-Ghazaleh is apparently working to harmonize and strengthen the current systems, campaigning for more robust IP rights across the Arab world.
As Abu Ghazaleh is based in Jordan, a state with diplomatic relations with Israel, here’s a suggestion: why not work to normalize trade relations with Israel? Particularly, work to allow Israeli companies to register trademarks in Arab states and international companies to do so without having to declare fulfilling the Arab boycott. Then, claims for special rights for national dishes and the like, could be examined in a normalized business atmosphere.
