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Dubai chocolate is the sweet sensation flying off shelves worldwide, but can any company claim it as their own? With everyone from Lindt to Aldi jumping on the viral bandwagon, Isabelle Tate from Reddie & Grose explains how businesses can protect their version of this Middle Eastern-inspired treat and what trademark challenges lie ahead.

Dubai chocolate has continued to hit the headlines as people struggle to get their hands on a bar of the viral sweet treat. As the chocolate has grown in popularity since it was created in 2021, we have seen various companies producing their take on the bar, but does every manufacturer have the ability to call its chocolate ‘Dubai chocolate’? Or, is one company able to monopolise the term and stop others on the market from using the name?

What's in a name?

Dubai chocolate was created in Dubai in 2021 by Fix Dessert Chocolatier co-founder Sarah Hamouda, with the help of chef Nouel Catis Omamalin. The creation is a chocolate bar containing a filling of pistachio and crunchy knafeh, which Fix named “Can’t Get Knafeh of It”. Fix’s chocolate innovation went viral on social media in December 2023 and since then, the popularity of the Middle Eastern-inspired chocolate bar has only increased.

Many companies, including established chocolatier Lindt and supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, have jumped on the hype surrounding ‘Dubai chocolate’ and have now launched their versions of the product. The interest in Dubai chocolate and product innovation has gone beyond the chocolate bars themselves, with Starbucks and Shake Shack both launching Dubai chocolate drinks. While initially gaining prominence as a social media trend, Dubai chocolate appears to be, for the time being, here to stay.

Jumping on the bandwagon

In the UK, it seems almost impossible to purchase. Lidl’s JD Gross Dubai Style Chocolate sold out upon launch, with over 6,000 bars being sold in just over an hour on its TikTok Shop. Waitrose is currently out of stock online of Lindt’s Dubai Style Chocolate, which is limited to two bars per customer. Aldi, B&M Bargains, Home Bargains and Costco are just a few examples of other large retailers that have entered the Dubai chocolate market.

It is noticeable that all of the products refer to themselves as ‘Dubai chocolate’ or ‘Dubai style chocolate’. This raises the interesting question of whether any company, including the original creator, could expect to acquire any exclusive rights to the Dubai chocolate name. How are the various companies with interest in Dubai chocolate carving out their own space in the market, which is becoming increasingly crowded?

Looking at the position in the UK, several companies have applied for trademarks, including the element ‘Dubai chocolate,’ all of which have been filed since September 2024. Many of these trademarks include ‘Dubai chocolate’ coupled with a house mark or brand name. For example, Lindt has applied for trademark protection in the UK for ‘Lindt Dubai Chocolate' and ‘Lindt Dubai Style Chocolate.' both of which incorporate the Lindt house mark. Others who have applied for ‘Dubai chocolate’ trademarks without a house brand tend to have applied for a figurative trademark showing the appearance of packaging.

For example: One applicant has sought to register the words ‘Dubai Chocolate’ alone for various types of liqueur. This application is currently under examination by the UK Intellectual Property Office. There is also a pending application for the words ‘Dubai Chocolate Syrup’ for various foodstuffs.

Trademarking in the UK

In the UK, a registered trademark gives the owner an exclusive right, which may allow them to stop others from using a similar trademark. To be registrable as a trademark in the UK, the trademark cannot be descriptive of any of the characteristics of the products for which registration is sought.

It seems that in the UK, the term ‘Dubai chocolate’ has taken on a meaning, with consumers understanding the term as indicating chocolate with pistachio and crunchy knafeh filling. This consumer understanding, which is not tied to the products of a single company, means that no company will likely be able to monopolise the term.

This means that registering the plain words ‘Dubai Chocolate’ as a trademark in the UK in respect of chocolate or any products that could incorporate or be flavoured with Dubai chocolate would be extremely challenging. Indeed, the UK trademark register shows the refusal of several such applications, including applications for the trademarks Dubai Chocolate Bar and Dubai Chocolate UK.

For their new products and innovations surrounding Dubai chocolate, companies are left relying on other brand identifiers to build their space in the market. We expect that applications for various Dubai chocolate trademarks will continue, which could include trademarks protecting the appearance and packaging of the products.

Entrants to the UK market should be mindful that, whilst they may be able to use the term ‘Dubai chocolate’ or ‘Dubai style chocolate’ on their products to describe it (presuming that the product is Dubai chocolate or has some relationship to it), there may be other trademark protection in place to be wary of. For example, if a company has sought protection for the appearance or the packaging of its Dubai chocolate product, creating a look-a-like product may still get you in hot water, even if no one can own the term ‘Dubai chocolate’.

Beyond the UK, we have seen a few cases in Germany that highlight some potential difficulties in marketing Dubai chocolate products. There have been conflicting decisions surrounding the question of whether marketing a product as ‘Dubai chocolate’ when the product is not manufactured in Dubai is misleading to consumers.

The German courts have reached conflicting decisions, with one court ruling that marketing a product as ‘Dubai chocolate’ when it is manufactured in Turkey is misleading, while another ruled that this would not mislead consumers as it would merely be perceived as a reference to the recipe behind the chocolate and not the place of manufacture. The contradictory judgements in Germany have likely led Lindt to market its chocolate as ‘Dubai style chocolate’ to avoid any allegations of misleading consumers. We have had no such cases yet in the UK, but we do see several companies marketing the chocolate bar as ‘Dubai style’, likely in a pre-emptive move.

Dubai chocolate is not currently a protected designation of origin (PDO) or protect geographical indication (PGI) in the UK, which means that companies wishing to market a Dubai chocolate product are not required by the PDO or PGI scheme to ensure that their product is linked to a specific geographical area or made in a specific way. However, companies should still be wary of misleading consumers in the marketing of their products.

The craze for Dubai chocolate does not seem to be waning and we expect to see many more brands enter this space to try and satisfy the high consumer demand.