A family-run farm near Peterborough wins a court battle with beverage giant Oatley

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Gleb Farm owner Philip Reiner and Rebecca Reiner.

Sweden-based Oatly, which is building a modern production center in Peterborough Gateway that will create hundreds of jobs, has claimed that a product called PureOaty has been manufactured and marketed by family-run Glebe Farm 18 months ago. trademark infringement.

It has taken the dispute to the Royal Courts of Justice in an effort to secure an injunction to stop the farm at King’s Ripton selling PureOaty and recover all infringing goods.

But after a two-day hearing, the judge, recognizing Oatley’s strong brand and uniqueness, ruled in favor of the farm noting that the similarities between Oatley’s packaging and Gleb Farm, were not significant enough to grant an injunction.

Sign up for our daily newsletter The hype goes beyond the Oatly brand, left, and Glebe Farm packaging, right.

Then, Philip Reiner, owner and director of Glybepharm, said: “It is very satisfying that the judge has ruled in our favour, and to see that smaller independent companies can fight back and win.

“We’ve been threatened by this lawsuit – which has kept our contender brand against the multinational Oatly – looming over us for more than a year.

“We have always felt certain we had done nothing wrong, and we were determined to fight Oatly’s claims that our brands were the same – something that has now been proven wrong.

“You just have to look at the producers and the packaging side by side to appreciate how different these brands are, and how unnecessary this legal action is.

He said, “We like to think the growth opportunities come from being positive in broadening sector choices, rather than trying to shut things down and limit consumer choices.

“All of us at Glebe Farm are excited to put this behind us now so we can focus our time on serving our loyal customers and the British public with pure, sustainable oats and oat milk without corporate lawsuits that distract from our daily priorities.

Rainer also thanked supporters around the world who supported the farm.

He said: “We deeply appreciate the tremendous support PureOaty and Glebe Farm have received from around the world including 130,000 signatures to the change.org petition, and many comments online describe this as a real battle between David and Goliath.

An Oatly spokesperson said: “While for some, this may be seen as a justification for small oat drink companies over large oat drink companies, in reality we’ve never seen it that way.

“For us, this issue has always been about protecting our brand and how the single letter Y creates a lot of similarity between OATY and OATLY.

“If we let one company through because they, like Glebe Farm, appear to be one of the good guys, that could leave the door open for the bad guys.

“The truth is, we love all of the oat drink companies and have never made this case to damage Glebe Farm. In fact, we want them to thrive and help bring products that are good for the planet into the world.

“We just think they should do it with their own unique voice, just like we do.

“While we would have preferred a different outcome, we fully accept the court’s decision and will not appeal.

“We wish Glebe Farm every success in their plant-based journey moving forward.”

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