New Zealand judge orders destruction of 108 boxes of Weetabix

Scores of Weetabix boxes will be destroyed in New Zealand after the company behind rival breakfast brand Weet-bix, won a trademark dispute.

Food manufacturer Sanitarium took the owners of Christchurch grocers A Little Bit of Britain to the country's High Court, where they claimed that customers, largely expats from the UK, might mistake the British product for its own.

When a pallet of around 300 boxes of Weetabix arrived in the country in June, they were impounded by customs officers following a complaint from Sanitarium.

The firm also sent a letter to Lisa Wilson, the shop's co-owner, informing her that the cereal would only be released if a sticker was put over their labels and she blanked out the name Weetabix when selling it online.

While other stores complied with their request, Ms Wilson accused the company of “bullying” her small family business and refused to back down.

Now, Justice David Gendall ruled the the Trade Marks Act had been breeched.

As a result he said that Weetabix can only be sold in specialist UK stores and the word must be covered to protect the Weet-Bix brand.

A survey, released by the court found that 35 per cent of people mistook Weetabix as a Sanitarium product.

Weetabix products imported for other than private or domestic use must be destroyed, meaning the 108 boxes which arrived earlier this year, had to be destroyed.

Sanitarium general manager Rob Scoines welcomed the ruling, saying that it was vital that the company protected their brand.

"It's not so much about Little Bit of Britain selling Weetabix, but more about the protection of the Weet-Bix trademark," Mr Scoines told The New Zealand Herald. "The judgment enables us to protect our brand, which supports the employment of New Zealanders and contributes to the community."

A Little Bit of Britain decided to take a satirical approach when it addressed the outcome in a post posted to its Facebook account.

“Woohoo! It's been such a long time coming but it's finally done. You can be assured we will be getting Weetabix in our next container," the post read. “As per the Judges [sic] ruling, we have to sticker over the Weetabix logo so please help us out and let us know below what you think we should call it.

“We were thinking 'confuse a brit' since they think we are so easily led astray."