Bega licks Kraft in peanut butter dispute

Bega Cheese has won a further round of a drawn-out battle with food group Mondalez International and Kraft.

The full court of the Federal Court of Australia upheld an earlier trial judgement against Kraft over the use of its distinct packaging of Smooth and Crunchy peanut butters including its yellow lid.

In May the Justice O’Çallaghan decided rejected Kraft’s bid to prevent Bega from using the distinctive livery.

In 2017 the local food manufacturer bought Mondelez’s Australia and NZ food and grocery businesses for $460 million, taking over the iconic Kraft Vegemite and peanut butter brands as well as Zoosh and Bonox.

Bega bought Kraft’s historic Port Melbourne manufacturing site and, it thought, the rights to the characteristic yellow, blue and red packaging of its Kraft spreads.

But before long Kraft re-entered the Australian peanut butter market with products packaged in near-identical colours to the original Kraft livery, and took court action to prevent Bega’s use.

Now the full court of the Federal Court has given Bega the right to continue to use the current packaging.

The company told investors: “Bega Cheese looks forward to continuing to produce and supply our customers with our much-loved peanut butter products.”

Picture: Bega Cheese

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