The UK Supreme Court has delivered a decisive blow to Oatly, ruling unanimously on Wednesday (11 February) that the Swedish plant-based giant can no longer use the word ‘milk’ in its trademarks or marketing for non-dairy products.
The battle kicked off when Oatly successfully registered the “Post Milk Generation” trademark in 2021, only for Dairy UK, the trade body representing British dairy farmers and processors, to challenge it as deceptive and in violation of retained EU regulations (now part of UK law) that reserve terms like ‘milk’, ‘cream’, ‘butter’, and ‘cheese’ exclusively for animal-derived products.
The UK Intellectual Property Office initially sided against Oatly in 2023 on the grounds that ‘milk’ was a protected designation, but Oatly won an appeal later that year. Dairy UK pushed back, the Court of Appeal overturned the win in late 2024/early 2025, and today’s Supreme Court judgment puts the nail in the coffin.
In its latest ruling, the Supreme Court determined that even embedding ‘milk’ within a broader phrase like ‘Post Milk Generation’ counts as a prohibited designation under the rules, designed to prevent consumer confusion and ensure fair competition.
Why this matters beyond Oatly
This dairy-specific ruling draws parallels to ongoing battles over terms like ‘burger’ and ‘meat’ in the plant-based space, where protections have historically been less stringent but are facing increasing pressure.
In 2020, the European Parliament rejected a proposed EU-wide ban on labels such as ‘veggie burger’ or ‘vegan sausage’, allowing such products to use familiar names as long as they include clear qualifiers indicating their plant-based nature.
However, national attempts persist. France’s 2022 law seeking to prohibit terms like ‘steak’, ‘wings’, or ‘burger’ for plant-based alternatives was struck down by the CJEU in 2024, which affirmed that existing EU regulations sufficiently prevent consumer confusion without additional bans.
Italy has also pushed similar restrictions, proposing bans on cultivated and plant-based meat labeling in 2023, though these remain under debate.
The landscape shifted further in 2025 when the EU Commission proposed prohibiting 29 animal-related terms for vegan products, and the European Parliament voted to ban ‘burger’, ‘sausage’, and similar descriptors for plant-based and lab-grown items – despite opposition from supermarkets, climate advocates, and even Burger King, who argued it stifles innovation and misleads on environmental benefits.
In the post-Brexit UK, retained EU laws mean meat alternatives might soon face parallel challenges, amplifying the Oatly precedent and potentially curbing growth in the booming alt-protein market.
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