The viral rise of “Dubai chocolate” – more formally known as the “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” bar from Fix Dessert Chocolatier – has been a social media sensation. What started as a niche sweet treat made in a Dubai dessert shop has ended up being one of the most sought-after confectionery products in the world.

But as the chocolate flew off shelves from the Middle East to Manchester, so too did copycat versions start appearing. Everyone from small-batch artisan kitchens to the mighty Lindt has had a go at making their own take. The question that keeps coming up is: can they do that? Can anyone just copy this kind of product?

Fix Dessert Chocolatier was featured on the BBC News complaining that “copycat” bars were “very frustrating because people are trying knockoffs, which damages our brand“.

As a solicitor who deals with intellectual property and brand protection, I find it fascinating to see how far IP law can stretch and where its limits really show. Because the reality is this: unless you’ve registered some rights in advance, there’s very little you can do to stop others jumping on the bandwagon.

The Viral Chocolate That Took Over TikTok

For those who’ve missed it, here’s the story. Dubai-based chocolatier Sarah Hamouda created a stuffed chocolate bar combining Middle Eastern ingredients like pistachio, tahini, and crispy kataifi pastry. It’s indulgent, textured and – if you believe the hype – completely addictive.

A TikTok influencer posted a video raving about it, and from there, demand exploded. Fix Dessert Chocolatier went from a quiet corner of Dubai to having people across the world queue up, importing stock, and searching for local resellers. At one point, the Crown Prince of Dubai was even involved.

As always, success breeds imitation. Quickly, lookalike products began appearing in the UK, the US and beyond. Some used different names but took inspiration from the original. Others tried to create identical versions, mimicking the bar’s structure and packaging.

Which brings us to the legal bit.

Can You Protect a Chocolate Bar?

In theory, yes. In practice, only a bit of it.

There’s no single form of intellectual property right that protects a “product” in its entirety. Instead, different aspects of the product may be protectable – but the creator has to be proactive, and the protection has to fall within certain categories. Here’s how it breaks down:

• Trade marks protect brand names, logos, and sometimes distinctive packaging or shapes – but not recipes or general product types.
• Design rights can protect the appearance of a product – its shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation.
• Patents if you have created a unique method, you might be able to protect it.
• Trade secrets can protect confidential recipes or manufacturing processes – but only while they’re kept secret – these are usually included in contracts with suppliers etc.
• Copyright –  won’t usually help with food, as it protects artistic or literary works, not ingredients or dishes.

So, unless Sarah Hamouda registered a trade mark or design right in advance, the reality is she has little recourse against those producing similar bars.

Even if she had registered something like “Dubai Chocolate,” that would have been problematic in itself.

“Dubai Chocolate” Probably Wouldn’t Be Registrable Anyway

Here’s the bit most people don’t realise: the UK Intellectual Property Office (and other similar bodies abroad) won’t let you register purely descriptive names. That includes anything that tells you:

• what the product is, or,
• where it comes from.

“Dubai Chocolate” hits both of those red flags. It tells you where it’s from (Dubai) and what it is (chocolate). That sort of name is seen as something all traders should be free to use. You can’t claim a monopoly over a city name and a foodstuff.

So even if Fix had tried registering “Dubai Chocolate” as a trade mark, it would almost certainly have been refused. And if they’d managed to sneak it through, it would have been a very weak mark – easily challenged and hard to enforce.

What’s more sensible, and what they ought to have done, is to register the brand name Fix, or ‘Cant Get Kanefh”, and the logo or stylised packaging design. Trademark law is happy to protect distinctive, brand-led elements like these.

Copycats Are (Usually) Legal

Here’s the uncomfortable truth for most business owners: copying a product idea isn’t illegal unless you’re infringing specific IP rights.

That means:

• You can’t stop someone from making a chocolate bar with pistachio, tahini and kataifi just because you did it first;
• You can’t stop someone from marketing it as a “stuffed chocolate bar” or even calling it “Middle Eastern-inspired”.
• You can stop them using your registered trade mark or copying your packaging if it creates confusion in the market – but only if those rights are registered and enforceable.

So where does that leave viral brands like Fix Dessert Chocolatier? In the same place as their chocolate should be – out in the cold – unless they took early steps to protect their branding.

This is where the recent case of Thatchers Cider Company Ltd v Aldi Stores Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 5 becomes very relevant.

In that case, Aldi released a cloudy lemon cider under its Taurus brand, with packaging and get-up that looked remarkably like Thatchers’ well-known “Thatchers Cloudy Lemon Cider”. While Aldi argued that consumers weren’t being misled, the Court of Appeal found that Aldi had infringed Thatchers’ registered trade mark, and that the similarities between the two were enough to create a likelihood of confusion.

The Court took the view that Aldi’s product was too close in visual appearance to Thatcher’s trade mark registration, particularly when viewed by the average consumer. It’s a notable judgment because it shows that courts will protect brand owners against lookalike products where trade mark rights have been properly registered and there’s a real risk of confusion.

Interestingly, the Court didn’t have to rely on passing off – it was purely a trade mark case. That’s important because passing off is notoriously hard to prove and requires actual goodwill, misrepresentation and damage. Trade mark infringement, by contrast, only requires a likelihood of confusion.

So, while you can’t protect a flavour or a recipe, you can protect your branding, and if someone goes too far in mimicking it, you may have a strong case for trade mark infringement – just as Thatchers did.

Lessons for Food Entrepreneurs

For any food business hoping to go viral (or even just hoping to grow steadily), there are a few key lessons here:

1. Register your trade marks early. Your brand name, logo and packaging design should be protected before hitting the shelves.
2. Think creatively about distinctiveness. A name like “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” or “Fix Bar” is more likely to be registrable than something generic like “Dubai Chocolate”.
3. Consider design registrations. Design rights can offer useful protection if your product has a unique shape or wrapping.
4. If possible, keep your recipes confidential. Once your secret filling is out in the open, it’s fair game.

The sad truth is that unless you’ve planned ahead, IP law won’t come rushing to your rescue once your product takes off. And as Dubai Chocolate has shown us, once the internet gets hold of a good idea, there’s no stopping the imitators.

In Conclusion: You Can’t Own a Flavour

Ultimately, you can’t own a flavour. You can’t own a recipe. And you certainly can’t own a combination of ingredients unless there’s something truly inventive or secret about it.

What you can own is your brand, your identity, your packaging, and the visual cues that set you apart. But only if you do the paperwork first.

As a solicitor, I always say: the best time to protect your intellectual property is before you go viral – not after. Once the world is talking about you, it’s already too late to start thinking about trade marks.

So if you’re planning the next big dessert trend – or launching any product that might take off online – get your IP sorted early. Because the internet moves fast, and copycats don’t wait.