cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43030335
Plant-based drink maker Oatly has lost a long-running legal battle over its use of the word “milk” in its marketing.
The Swedish company tried to trademark the slogan “post-milk generation” in the UK in 2021 but Dairy UK, the representative body for British dairy farmers, objected.
Following rulings in several courts, the UK Supreme Court on Wednesday said Oatly could neither trademark nor use the phrase “post-milk generation”.
The long-running dispute has centred on Dairy UK’s argument that, under trademark law, the term “milk” can only be used to refer to products that come from an animal.
These have been called milk for far longer than this has been a supposed issue for.
This isn’t restricted to things humans drink. Any white-ish liquid had a chance of being labeled milk. See also crop milk, milkweed, milk of magnesia, discus milk, glacial milk.
Or for a food product with a similar fight, see peanut butter. In Dutch the fight resulted in it being called pindakaas (peanut cheese).