Legal action over British Marmite

2012/10/17

A Canterbury man trying to import a British version of Marmite is facing legal action from Sanitarium, the Kiwi maker of the dark yeasty spread of the same name.

New Zealand Customs seized the shipment of the British spread, labelled Ma'amite, imported by Rob Savage in August.

The shipment was impounded as part of a standard screening process offered to organisations by Customs to identify products that infringe trademarks.

Sanitarium has held the trademark for Marmite in New Zealand for more than 80 years, the company said in a statement.

The company said it had been in discussions with Mr Savage about his impounded products and tried on several occasions to negotiate a settlement.

While a verbal compromise was reached, this was not formalised and Sanitarium said it was then necessary to begin legal action.

"We are, and always have been, willing to continue our dialogue with Mr Savage should he wish to settle this matter amicably," Sanitarium said.

The company said it doesn't oppose the product in question, but it was taking action to protect its trademark.

Sanitarium noted the British product is freely available in New Zealand under the name "Our Mate".

The British spread looks and tastes different to New Zealand-made Marmite.

Kiwi Marmite has been off the supermarket shelves since March, after the Christchurch earthquake forced Sanitarium to close its sole New Zealand production plant in November 2011.

(Source:Yahoo)