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Westgold files counter claim to US butter packaging lawsuit

Gerhard Uys

Premium New Zealand butter brand Westgold has lodged a counterclaim in a United States court after Irish butter brand Kerrygold sued it over similarities in their packaging.

Irish dairy co-operative, Ornua, claimed Westgold’s butter packaging in the US was too similar to the packaging of its Kerrygold butter.

Westgold butter was owned by Westland Dairy Company.

Business Desk reported Westland Dairy Company wanted a permanent injunction stopping Ornua from making trademark claims against it, saying it was anticompetitive behaviour.

It also wanted a dismissal of Ornua’s complaint with prejudice, denying it any relief, including any award damages, costs or attorney fees. Westland wanted declaratory judgments that Ornua had no protectable trade dress in Ornua’s butter packaging and that Ornua’s alleged trade dress for its butter was functional and therefore not protectable, Business Desk reported.

A spokesperson for Westland said the brand would continue to defend its position and rights to compete fairly in the US and other global markets.

The spokesperson would not comment further while the lawsuit was before the court.

The lawsuit by Ornua was aimed at stopping Westland from advertising, marketing, distributing or selling butter products using a trademark and trade dress that were similar to Ornua’s federally registered Kerrygold trademarks and trade dress.

A brand’s trade dress described the look and feel of a product that identified and differentiated its source.

An Ornua spokesperson said the company put the highest priority on protecting the Kerrygold’s distinctive brand and would not allow infringement of its branding or trademarks.

Earlier this month commercial law professor at the University of Auckland, Alex

Sims, said Westland could lose the case.

Just because a company used packaging in its own country did not mean it could use it in another, Sims said.

Similarities between products were not always deliberate, she said.

New Zealand butters were much better than US butters and as a result Westgold butter was more of a threat to Kerrygold in the US, than Kerrygold butter would be to Westgold in New Zealand, she said.

Westland chief executive Richard Wyeth previously said, ‘while we would prefer that consumer taste be the ultimate judge, we will vigorously defend the claims made’’.

Business

en-nz

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282200835054996

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