An attempt by Ben & Jerry’s to sell ice cream to sell its Israeli subsidiary failed through court. A New York judge has rejected a US trademark request for a preliminary injunction in the case against parent company Unilever.
The crux of the conflict is the sale of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s upset many Israelis by announcing that it would no longer sell ice cream in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Territories.
Then Unilever announced in June that it was transferring Ben & Jerry’s Israeli operations to another party. This allows Ben and Jerry to remain available in the settlements under the Hebrew and Arabic names.
The ice cream sign, which has an activist photo, did not let her go to court. In terms of its social mission, the brand has enjoyed a high degree of autonomy within Unilever for many years. Ben & Jerry’s claimed that its brand integrity would be affected by the sale.
The judge simply does not agree with this reasoning. He called Ben & Jerry’s claims “highly speculative,” among other things. The ice cream brand wouldn’t have appeared that it would suffer irreparable damage if the Unilever deal went through.
