Oatly banned from using the word ‘milk’ in its marketing, UK Supreme Court rules

A serious matter has been settled

This comes after the ruling of a UK supreme court on Wednesday.

The supreme court unanimously ruled that Oatly can no longer trademark, or use, the slogan “Post Milk Generation”.

The producer of alt-milk has been in a long-running legal battle with the trade association Dairy UK, as it had trademarked phrases that are associated with the dairy sector.

A senior associate and trademark attorney at the European intellectual property company Withers & Rogers, said that “it has taken the highest court in the land to decide once and for all whether a plant-based milk alternative can be branded as ‘milk’ and marketed as such”

“And the outcome is not what Oatly was hoping for”, the attorney added.

As per regulations, certain terms can be used only to denote the actual products they describe, such as milk, wine and olive oil.

And milk is defined as coming from the dairy sector and, more specifically, animals.

In spite of this, Oatly, which first filed a trademark application for the term “Post Milk Generation”, had argued that the use of the term “milk” in a trademark did not breach regulations if it was not being used in a descriptive manner.

According to Dairy UK chief executive, Judith Bryans, “this ruling is an important decision for the sector as it finally provides clarity on how dairy terms can – and cannot – be used in branding and marketing”.

“It brings greater certainty for businesses and helps ensure that long-established dairy terms continue to carry clear meaning for consumers, while allowing appropriate descriptors to be used where the law permits.”

Oatly remained defiant despite the defeat handed down by the UK’s highest court, stating that the ruling was anti-competitive and not good for the British public.