Milka chocolate by Mondelez
Mondelez, a multinational confectionery company, has threatened legal action against Nurture Brands, a London vegan snack maker, over the color of one of its fruit bars.
Mondelez alleges that the Primal Pantry’s cocoa bar “exploits” the trademark of its Milka chocolate range.
Lawyers for Mondelez are requesting the use of lilac packaging for the bar must stop, warning of a $7,150 penalty each time the trademark is infringed.
Nurture Brands, which owns the Primal Pantry, denies “hurting” the trademark.
The snack bars were launched in 2016 in a range of colors so that “they have good differentiation on a shelf together”, said Adam Draper, managing director of Nurture Brands.
“We don’t think it is the same color or even in the same spectrum,” Draper added.
Despite the legal letter, Mondelez has not gave evidence the packaging color is similar enough to infringe on the Milka trademark, Draper said.
Founded in London, Nurture Brands supplies plant-based snacks across Europe. It employs 26 people in its Barbican headquarters and runs a factory in north-east England.
“They’ve not sought any facts and gone in all guns blazing,” he said.
“If they can prove to me the color is in the range, I will work with them but I’m not going to throw away all our products in the EU.”
To recall the products and remove all packaging currently in circulation could cost between $41,000 and $68,000 “without factoring in all the fines”, Draper estimates.
The BBC understands that Mondelez has given Nurture Brands six months to change the packaging.
