Small Family Farm Wins Court Battle With Oatly

Family farm from Huntingdon Glebe Farm was taken to court by international oat milk giant Oatly. 

Glebe Farm launched an oat milk in 2019 called "Oat Drink", before rebranding it "PureOaty" in 2020. The Swedish company claimed that the name and branding of PureOaty oat milk were too similar to their own brand. 

Yesterday, Glebe Farms announced they won the court case against Oatly. 

The court hearing took place on 9th and 10th June. The court examined different aspects of alleged relevant intellectual property, including choice of language, typography, the use of the colour blue and the detail of a coffee cup appearing on the PureOaty pack. 

In the judgement, the judge has dismissed all of Oatly's claims of trademark infringement and passing off.

Phillip Rayner, the owner of Glebe Farm, was happy about the verdict and said: "We have had the threat of this court case – which has pitched our challenger brand against Oatly's multinational business – looming over us for more than a year. We have always felt certain that we have done nothing wrong, and we were determined to fight Oatly's claims that our brands were similar – something that is now proven to be wrong.

"You only need to look at the two products and packaging side by side to appreciate how different these brands are and how unnecessary this legal action was.

"We greatly appreciate the huge support that PureOaty and Glebe Farm have received from around the world, including 130,000 signatures on a change.org petition, and many comments online have described this as a true David and Goliath battle."

Philip Rayner continues: "Oatly has claimed that this legal action is just standard business practice. However, it was very clear to us that this was not the case. We decided it was time to stand up to this behaviour, and that in our view' corporate might does not make right."

"In response to public and industry criticism, Oatly has claimed that it first tried to engage Glebe Farm in 'constructive conversation', but in our view, a threat of legal action never felt 'constructive', and we felt there was no compromise or dialogue offered."

"It is enormously gratifying that the judge has ruled in our favour and to see that smaller independent companies can fight back and win.

"The facts are that we have never wanted to be an Oatly clone. Pride in our own product aside, as British farmers, we do not agree with any brand that comes across as anti-farming in its approach.

"Our brand name is PureOaty because our oat milk is made from pure gluten-free oats and just three other ingredients. The claimant has tried to cast our name incorrectly as "Oaty" as an attempt to include that common word in their brand portfolio. However, even if it were Oaty, would you expect everyone to be prevented from using the word 'milky' if a large multinational had trademarked 'Milk-ly'?

"We are pleased to have our trademark position vindicated by the judge."

The judge reviewed the evidence and found that there is no confusion between the PureOaty brand and any of the Oatly trademarks. Further, the judge ruled against Oatly's allegation that Glebe Farm intended to gain some unfair advantage.

Philip Rayner concludes: "There is room in a growing category for alternatives. We'd like to think growth opportunities come from positivity in broadening sector choice rather than from trying to shut things down and limiting consumer options.

Glebe Farm says they are excited to put this case behind, and they can now focus back on serving their loyal customers.