Oat milk must now be called ‘oat drink', UK Supreme Court rules

In a new ruling, the UK Supreme Court has banned Oatly from using the word “milk” to market its oat-based products.

The highest court of Britain unanimously ruled on Wednesday, February 11, that the Swedish company can no longer use the slogan “Post Milk Generation” as, according to Dairy UK, the term milk is only confined to animal-derived products.

With this ruling, it is clear that the vegan food producers can’t use any term like “oat milk.”

Rather, they will use “oat drink” or “plant-based drink” on packaging and in marketing.

However, this ruling is criticised by Bryan Caroll, Oatly’s UK & Ireland general manager, who stated that “this decision creates unnecessary confusion and an uneven playing field for plant-based products that solely benefits Big Dairy.”

He accused regulators of “stifling competition” against the interests of the British public.

The case stems back to 2021 when Oatly started to trademark “Post Milk Generation.”

This was objected to by Dairy UK, which argued that the phrase flouted laws protecting dairy terms.

After a legal battle at the IPO, High Court, and Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court finally gave its verdict.

Justice(s) ruled the term “milk” was being used descriptively for a food product and didn’t qualify for exceptions allowing terms denoting “characteristic quality.”

The slogan, they found, described consumers, not the product itself.

Legal experts say the judgment creates heightened risk for any plant-based brand borrowing dairy terminology.