Rooibos 'storm in a teacup' cooled

The decade long trademark war over the use of the word 'rooibos' has ended with agreement that worldwide registration of the name will be cancelled as it is a word that has now found its way into the general lexicon. The end of the rooibos word wars follows final agreement between Rooibos Limited, the Western Cape government, the department of trade and industry and the international trademark holder (a US cosmetics company) over a protracted R6 million rights dispute.