Estonia, Foodstuff, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

Zemaitijos Pienas said it had filed a suit with an Estonian court over the Pik-Nik brand, demanding that Estover should be banned from using a similar sign in Estonia where the Lithuanian firm also sells its production.

The Estonian company said it was surprised over the dispute over a general word "picnic." Estover's spokesman Hannes Prits told BNS that the company had changed the word "Piknikupulgad", which is not the main part of the sign, before the litigation.

"We didn't want to fight but at the same time we didn't feel we did something wrong, but anyway, we don't want to fight with Zemaitijos Pienas, this is a totally different thing, plus they are leaders of the market when it comes to the cheese strings, I think it's a question of the style of the company. We used to cooperate with them and we know their style," Prits told BNS.

In his words, Hiirte Juustu is one of Estover's main and most popular signs – the company had never used the "Pik-Nik" sign, therefore, disagrees with Zemaitijos Pienas' accusations. Prits said the Lithuanian company had made claims about strings of cheese on the packaging before going to court, however, does not specify this in the claim.

"If you look at the package, you can get a clear picture what's inside. Yes, Zemaitijos Pienas was the first in the Baltics who did a product like this, but there're other producers, as well. For example, Pieno Zvaigzdes in Lithuania makes a similar product and one of the biggest diary producers in a world, Lactalis Group, has a trademark Galbani, which is well known in Europe and they have cheese strings, the picture packages similar, most of them has a picture of cheese strings, so Zemaitijos Pienas can feel the only one in Baltic market, but when it comes to the world, it's very common," said Prits.

Estover also produces string cheese Hiirte Juustu, packages of which earlier featured an additional sign Piknikupulgad, however, the current packaging seen on the company's website no longer include the word. Both packages picture similar images of string cheese, with a mouse pictured on the Estonian cheese.

The ruling is expected on Nov. 22.