Oatly loses trademark fight against British family firm selling ‘PureOaty’ drink

ilk alternative giant Oatly has lost a trademark infringement case against a small British firm selling cartons of a gluten-free drink called “PureOaty”.

The Swedish company, which listed in New York in May and has a market cap of around $15 billion, accused the Cambridgeshire-based Glebe Farm Foods of infringing trademarks including the Oatly brand name and carton design.

Documents submitted to the court earlier this year, seen by the Standard, show the Malmo-based company accused the family firm of “passing off” its beverage as Oatly. Oatly was hoping for an injunction to stop Glebe Farm selling PureOaty.

Glebe Farm, which is run by a brother and sister team and has been in cereal production for over 30 years, began creating its oat drink nearly three years ago and rebranded the beverage as “PureOaty” in 2020.

Lawyers for Oatly said the name was meant “to bring Oatly’s products to mind” and to “benefit from the huge power of attraction and reputation of Oatly’s branding”. Glebe Farm denied the claims, saying its package “calls to mind the concepts of purity and oatiness”.