Oatly Loses Trademark Suit Against Glebe Farm Foods' PureOaty Product

from the oat-brand dept

A couple of months back, we discussed something of a silly lawsuit overseas between Oatly, a large oat-milk manufacturer, and Glebe Farm Foods over its own PureOaty drink. At issue were Oatly's own trademarks and its claims that PureOaty infringed on those marks. As we noted at the time, because the word "oat" is descriptive of the products in both cases, and with PureOaty using the "pure" as a differentiator among other things, this was a trademark claim that essentially came down to the letter "y". And, yes, that is dumb. Especially when you consider that there are significant differences when it comes to PureOaty's trade dress.

There is simply little reason to be concerned about public confusion between those two products when you take everything in sum total. The colors in the branding are different, and the trade dress and placement generally doesn't lend itself towards public confusion.

And it turns out that the courts in the UK agree.

Judge Nicholas Caddick at London’s High Court dismissed claims by the Malmo-based group that Cambridgeshire-based Glebe Farm Foods, which specialises in gluten-free oats, of infringing trademarks including the Oatly brand name and pack design, and of “passing off” the beverage as Oatly.

In his ruling, the judge said the visual similarity of the names were “very modest” and that there was no evidence of actual confusion among consumers regarding the two products.

Both parties were reached for comment after the ruling. Glebe Farm Foods was understandably pleased with the result, noting that it isn't always the case that smaller entities like its company can beat large enterprises like Oatly in court, even on the merits. Oatly, for its part, claims it will not appeal the ruling and accepts it, adding that it never actually wanted to harm Glebe Farm Foods in the first place.

Oatly added that it never brought the case to damage Glebe Farm and wanted them “to thrive and help bring products into the world that are good for the planet”. “We wish Glebe Farm total success in their plant-based journey moving forward,” it said.

Kind words, but somewhat tone-deaf given that even Oatly acknowledged that this entire lawsuit was initiated essentially over the letter "y". That this single character resulted in a lawsuit of all things doesn't lend a lot of credence to Oatly's "I'm okay, you're okay" posture.

Filed Under: confusion, oat milk, pureoaty, trademark, uk
Companies: glebe farm foods, oatly, pureoaty

Oatly Sues PureOaty For Trademark And Trade Dress Infringement

from the milking-it dept

Maybe it's something about being in a beverage industry that makes people treat trademark law as though it were something it most definitely is not. For years, we've discussed the trademark problem that the exploding craft beer industry has faced. Oatly, the Swedish company that produces that well known non-dairy milk product, is most certainly not in the alcohol business, but they appear to be aping the most aggressive members of that unrelated industry in a recent lawsuit filed overseas against a very small competitor, which makes a product called PureOaty.

Oatly, the Swedish oat milk maker with a market value of $15bn, has taken legal action for trademark infringement against a Cambridgeshire-based family farm over its PureOaty drink. The Malmo-based group accuses Glebe Farm Foods, which specialises in gluten-free oats, of infringing trademarks including the Oatly brand name and pack design, and of “passing off” the beverage as Oatly, according to documents submitted to the court.

Now, most of Glebe Farm Foods' business has nothing to do with selling oat-based milk substitutes. Instead, the company makes most of its money selling gluten-free oat-stuffs to food producers. But it does sell PureOaty as a side product, rebranded under its current name in early 2020. Notably, the oat-based milk industry is expanding quickly, with plenty of startups getting into the business. In other words, this very much looks like an early-stage version of the craft beer industry.

With that in mind:

Lawyers for Oatly and its UK business claim that when Glebe Farm rebranded its Oat Drink product as PureOaty in 2020, “Glebe Farm’s intention was to bring Oatly’s products to mind and thereby to benefit from the huge power of attraction and reputation of Oatly’s branding”.

Oatly’s lawyers claim that the name PureOaty calls to mind Oatly, while the product’s blue packaging and image of a teacup also recall the Swedish brand.

Okay, let's take these two claims, the basis for the lawsuit, in order. The claim that PureOaty calls to mind Oatly is odd. Sure, both brand names include the word "oat", but that's descriptive of what the milk product is made of. The "Pure" is, frankly, doing a lot of work in differentiating the two brands. All that's really left is the "y" at the end of each brand name and if that's where the confusion claim rests, well, that isn't very convincing at all.

As for the argument that the trade dress is going to be confusing, well:

If those two products confuse you, you need help. The color scheme is different, as is the placement of the branding and all the verbiage on the packaging. The only real commonality is, as Oatly called out, the inclusion of a tea or coffee cup. And the fact is that both of these products are used as creamers. Including a tea or coffee cup isn't particularly distinctive for these oat-milk products.

But, as is always the case when it comes to trademark bullying, this is likely happening at least in part because Glebe Farm Foods is tiny compared with Oatly. That's why trademark bullying works. Whether it does in this case I suppose will come down to how hard and long Glebe Farm Foods wants to fight back.

Filed Under: oat milk, oatly, pureoaty, trademark
Companies: glebe farm foods, oatly