In a most important decision, the Jerusalem District Court, sitting as the Board of Appeal on a decision of the Patent Registrar, overturned the Registrar's decision and upheld the validity of the JAFFA Appellation of Origin. The details of the case are as follows: a few years ago the Plants Council granted a license to South African manufacturers of citrus fruits to market citrus fruits to the UK under the mark JAFFA. When the Israeli Patent Registrar was requested to renew the JAFFA Appellation of Origin, he decided that it should be revoked due to this license. The Registrar held that if a citrus fruit grown in South Africa meets the criteria of the Plants Council to be marketed under the mark JAFF, this means that the connection between the Appellation of Origin JAFFA and the unique qualities of the fruit which is grown in Israel has been lost. The Board of Appeal overturned this holding and ruled that the fact that the Plants Council commercialized its trademark rights in the mark JAFFA in countries which are not parties to the Lisbon treaty (for the protection of Appellation of Origin) does not impinge on the validity of JAFFA as an appellation of origin. The South African fruit was not identical to the Israeli fruit and the mere granting of the license to the South African manufacturers should not invalidate the Appellation of Origin. The same applies to the fact the the Plants Council granted a license to market a Dutch yogurt under the mark JAFFA.