Shurat HaDin an Israeli NGO has acquired the Ben & Jerry trademark in West Bank settlements and Jewish areas of east Jerusalem in order to permit it to produce and sell icecream in the area.
Shurat HaDin claimed that such a move was possible because global Ben & Jerry’s, and Unilever, had previously announced plans to cease sales to these regions as part of an attempt to block Israeli policies.
Shurat HaDin’s Law Center has now registered an Israeli corporation on Israel’s register of corporations. The name is “Judea and Samaria’s Ben & Jerry’s”, said Shurat HaDin’s president Nitsana Darash-Leitner in a note she addressed to Unilever, an British based global company. Unilever owns the Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s worldwide since 2000.
Darshan Leitner stated that “we plan to adopt Ben & Jerry’s name and be able to match the Vermont company’s current line of ice-cream as well as add new flavors and products.”
aviel darshan leitner Unilever was told that it didn’t have the legal right to use the Ben and Jerry’s label in the region. This is in spite of the fact that the boycott isn’t set to begin until 2023 after the expiration of the existing agreement with local ice cream producers.
Avi Zinger, the owner of the Israel franchise, made his position clear that he doesn’t intend to abandon the Green Line in regards to the sale of ice cream.
aviel darshan leitner Yet, Shurat HaDin wrote to Unilever, “we will actively and aggressively defend our Ben & Jerry’s brand name and rights to trademarks throughout the region using all legal avenues.”
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9955357/ According to her, sales will be restricted to areas where Ben & Jerry’s has withdrawn. Israel Law Center Unilever’s pledge to continue to sell to regions of Israel that aren’t included in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” means that the new Ben & Jerry’s can not be sold there.
nitsana darshan leitner https://www.mjcby.org/shurat-hadin-flyer/ Darshan-Leitner said that the bureaucratic and technical issues meant that , in reality the sales of ice cream would only begin when the agreement with the existing Israeli franchise is up for renewal.