The Supreme Court has drawn a firm line under branding creativity in regulated markets. In Dairy UK Ltd v Oatly AB, it ruled that Oatly’s ‘post-milk generation’ trade mark unlawfully deployed a protected dairy designation. In NLJ this week, Asima Rana of DWF explains that the court prioritised ‘regulatory clarity over creative branding choices’, holding that ‘designation’ extends beyond product names to marketing slogans
The protection of terms such as ‘milk’ is about market-wide certainty, not consumer confusion in individual cases. Trade mark law, the court confirmed, cannot be used to ‘legitimise branding choices’ that cut across statutory rules.
For food and drink advisers, especially in plant-based sectors, the message is stark: there is little room for irony where legislation ‘draws clear lines and boundaries’.
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