Māori liken their trademark application to France’s effort to protect the term champagne, while Australia says you can’t claim a plant
Long before the name Mānuka became synonymous with a booming honey industry, celebrity endorsements and protracted global disputes, it was known in Māori legend. After Tāne Mahuta, the god of forests, separated his parents from their locked embrace, he set out to cloak Papatūānuku (his earth mother) in trees. One of these trees, born from his union with Tawake-Toro, was the Mānuka, with its dense, spiky foliage, delicate white flowers and unique pollen.
Mānuka is considered a taonga, or treasure, of which Māori are considered the kaitiaki (guardians). The legend, and the Māori relationship to Mānuka, has become an important tool in a global battle to protect Aotearoa New Zealand’s Mānuka honey brand, the most bitter part of which is between New Zealand and Australia.
