Oatly Banned From Marketing Plant-Based Products As Milk In The UK

Oatly, the Swedish oat milk brand, has been banned from marketing its plant-based products as "milk" in the UK after losing a long-running legal dispute over the use of the term. The Supreme Court ruled against Oatly's attempt to trademark its "post-milk generation" slogan, with Dairy UK objecting to the use of dairy-related terms for plant-based products. This decision is seen as anti-competitive and harmful to innovation, according to Bryan Carroll, the general manager for Oatly UK & Ireland.

The ruling follows years of lobbying by Dairy UK and other groups associated with the animal agriculture industry. Despite the growing popularity of plant-based milk in the UK, with research showing increasing consumer demand, the dairy lobby's influence has resulted in restrictions on how plant-based products can be marketed. This has been criticized as a move to protect the profits of the animal agriculture industry at the expense of the environment, public health, and animal welfare.