Spoils trademark bid

Swedish plant-based producer Oatly has had its hopes soured after losing a long-running legal battle to use the word “milk” to market its products.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled against Oatly being allowed to trademark or use the phrase “post milk generation”, stating that only products derived from animal milk can use reserved dairy designations such as “milk”.

Trade association Dairy UK originally objected to Oatly’s trademark application for the phrase in 2021, appealing to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). They argued that under assimilated EU law, only animal-derived products can be marketed using the term “milk”. The IPO agreed and blocked the trademark application.

Oatly then appealed this decision to the High Court, which ruled in their favour, concluding that consumers would not be confused by the phrase. However, Dairy UK took the case to the Court of Appeal, which ruled in December 2024 that “milk” could only be used to describe dairy products.

Oatly appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision, finding that using the term ‘post milk generation’ to market products would confuse consumers.

The judges rejected Oatly’s argument that “post milk generation” was describing a feature of the product, stating it was “far from clear that that trade mark is describing any characteristic of the contested products”. Rather, they said, the trade mark is describing the targeted consumers.

Oatly will be allowed to continue to use the term “post milk generation” on its t-shirts as “it is most obviously describing a type of young consumer who might proudly wear a T-shirt proclaiming that he or she is a member of the anti-milk POST MILK GENERATION.”

Oatly’s general manager for the UK and Ireland, Bryan Carroll, hit back at the decision, calling it “a way to stifle competition” that is “not in the interests of the British public”. He added: “This decision creates unnecessary confusion and an uneven playing field for plant-based products that solely benefits Big Dairy.”

The EU took a similar stance last year when the European Parliament voted to ban terms such as “oat milk” and “veggie burger”.