The UK food and drink industry continues to be a growing and dynamic sector on all fronts. From a legal perspective there have been lots of interesting contentious and non-contentious developments over the course of the last year.
One example is the recent ruling of the English High Court ruling that Nestlé could not register the shape of its four-fingered KitKat chocolate bar as a trademark because the KitKat had not "acquired a distinctive character". Nestlé had claimed that the three dimensional shape of the bar, with the iconic four fingers, is well known by consumers as a mark of a KitKat. Nestlé intends to appeal, particularly as the decision of the High Court will now allow rival companies (such as Cadbury's) to make similar shaped chocolate bars.
The growth of the food and drink sector brings with it increasingly complex legal and commercial issues. Operators in the food and drinks industry, at every level of the production and supply chain, need to be aware of these issues in order to run an effective business.
In an ever-changing legal and regulatory landscape with novel commercial challenges it is essential to have advisers who understand the specific challenges of the food and drink industry and the specific challenges of your business. MacRoberts' cross-departmental food and drink expertise covers a range of areas including corporate structure, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory obligations, branding, employment, joint ventures, re-financing and commercial contracts.
Our 2015-2016 overview provides examples of our services in the Scottish Food and Drink sector, identifies a number of the key challenges within the industry and outlines how our experience in this sector could help you achieve the best possible outcome for your business.
Disclaimer
The material contained in this article is of the nature of general comment only and does not give advice on any particular matter. Recipients should not act on the basis of the information in this e-update without taking appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.
