The UK’s highest court has sided with the dairy industry in the long-running row

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/oatly-milk-trademark-supreme-court-b2918307.html


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

all 37 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 10 points 9 months ago

This has the same energy as credit unions being banned from using the word 'bank' as a descriptor.

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago

    I wonder if Westeros would have ruled against the name "Milk of the poppy." No? The UK officially has worse takes on law than The Seven Fucking Kingdoms.

    Capitalism lol

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    I'll have a latte with soy effluent, please.

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

    The title of the article is misleading. The ruling was on the use of "Post Milk Generation" as a trade mark for use in their advertising and on their products. It has nothing to do with using "milk" to describe their drinks.

    Sadly, every comment in this thread seems to be responding to the title at face value, not the actual court case.

    I think it's a bit silly to prevent the trademark of that slogan, but I'm guessing that's because I'm missing something in the nuance of what a trade mark is, legally, in the UK?

    Speculating here with an example of a trademark I know a little bit about: "Grill & Chill" was trademarked by DQ in several jurisdictions. (Aside: and they used that trademark to threaten the "Chill & Grill" restaurant to change its name, despite that use clearly predating DQ's use of the name by decades, but I digress...) I suppose that's allowed because "grilling" is directly related to the "trade" of DQ's services, but something ephemeral like "being a post milk person" is only indirectly related to their "trade" of making non-dairy beverages?

    I suppose that makes sense. But still silly, imho.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] [S] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Its legal team contended that the trademark explicitly conveyed the absence of dairy milk in its offerings.

    Conversely, lawyers for Dairy UK argued that the phrase failed to clarify the product’s milk-free nature, instead referring to a specific demographic of consumers.

    You can't not link it to "milk" directly as that was part of the legal argument.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago

    ???

    I don't understand what you're trying to say.

    The Supreme Court decision was banning their use of the trademarked phrase. As far as I can tell, that's it. If you can find something in there that contradicts that, I'm all ears. But nothing in the linked article, aside from the terrible headline, says anything about a court ruling on the term "oat milk".

    Unless I missed something, this has no far-reaching consequences and is mostly a nothing burger.

  • source
  • parent
  • Just at "alternative" in tiny letters under each "milk" word.

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago*

    Mmmm... Oat Juice 🤤

  • source
  • [–] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (6 children)

    People who impregnate (rape) and abuse cows for their milk are so insecure about their product that they need to ban competition from using their word. It’s really pathetic to see.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    Man, I know it’s typical and passé to pass on things with complex names, but it may have been a poor move. Imagine if people stayed away from “dihydrogen monoxide” bottles because they sound like chemically treated poison.

  • source
  • [+] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)
  • [+] 1 point 9 months ago (13 children)
  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    Almond milk has been called 'milk' since it was first written about in the 13th century.

    There is no logical reason people need the distinction made clearer 800 years later.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [+] -1 points 9 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    What do you think changed?

    From my perspective, people made this and used this in their own homes. It was in cookbooks. Being able to buy it in a store doesn't change the context of 800+ years of history.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] -3 points 9 months ago* (3 children)
  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    But in what way does that change the meaning of the established linguistics? That's the part I'm struggling to grasp. I understand the commercial milk producers wanting to muddy the waters from a competitive perspective, but why should you or I want almond milk, or other plant based milks, called something not 'milk'?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    Hmm. I'm afraid this is where we're going to disagree. I don't agree milk needs a legal definition. I don't agree that consumers need protection from the word 'milk' being attached to other products, especially plant based milks that are generally clearly labeled and have hundreds or more years of context in our language.

    Hell. There's 'human milk', 'goat milk', 'yak milk', etc.

    If something needs to change, it should be that we need to now call it 'cow milk' and truly protect the consumer from confusion.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Unless you're drinking milk from the cow's tit, your milk is very mucg an industrial product to make it shelf stable and consistent. People have a totally wrong idea of what real milk feels or tastes like or what's involved in its production. At least oat milk is literally just filtered porridge you can make at home.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 14 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Peanut butter isn't butter, but it's called that because enough people agreed to call it so. It's a useful way to referring to something that has similar properties. Likewise, if I ask for a coffee I'll continue to ask for oat milk and not 'oat drink' as the latter sounds stupid.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    A milk is the result of the process of milking

    It can produce other fluids as well.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (-1 replies)