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5 August 2021TrademarksRory O'Neill

English court sides with farm’s PureOaty in Oatly clash

UK-based Glebe Farm Foods has won its trademark dispute with Swedish dairy alternative brand Oatly over Glebe’s PureOaty drink.

In a decision handed down this morning, August 5, the English High Court ruled there was no evidence that consumers were likely to confuse the two brands.

“The result is hugely satisfying for a great British manufacturer who stuck to its principles in defending its right to use descriptive elements in its branding,” said Jeremy Blum of Bristows, who led the team representing Glebe Farm Foods.

“The decision confirms how the creation of PureOaty was not done to gain any unfair advantage. I am delighted for our client,” Blum added.

Oatly, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June, argued that Glebe Farm rebranded its gluten-free product as ‘PureOaty’ to capitalise on the Swedish brand’s growing reputation. Glebe Farm, meanwhile, argued it was only using generic and descriptive elements, such as the concepts of “purity and oatiness”.

Oatly itself produced no evidence of confusion between the two brands, instead relying on documents disclosed by Glebe Farm Foods during the proceedings, the court noted.

These included a promotional interview with the owner of the Shelford Deli conducted on behalf of Glebe Farm in December 2019. Oatly noted that at several points during the interview, the deli owner confused the two brands several times.

But Deputy High Court Judge Nicholas Caddick said it was “difficult to take much from this interview”, given that it was subject to “constant interruptions” by guests, children, a telephone, music and banging in the background, kitchen noise, and camera problems.

“Mr Wilkinson clearly confused the names (which certainly suggests a link in his mind between two oat drinks) but it is also clear that he knew full well that he was talking about the defendant’s product. I am not satisfied that, of itself, this is evidence of the sort of confusion that is relevant,” Caddick wrote.

All documents cited by Oatly referred to people mistakenly referring to Glebe Farm Foods’ product as PureOatly. But according to Caddick, these weren’t sufficient to establish that people were genuinely confusing the two brands.

“They clearly show that people are capable of using the wrong name for the defendant’s product. But it does not seem to me that that is relevant confusion as to trade origin. Rather the mistake lies in the closeness of the Oatly name to the descriptive word ‘oat’ or ‘oaty’,” the judge wrote.

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