Made Easy was launched in Budgens in August 2013

Musgrave GB is locked in a trademark dispute with Morrisons, The Grocer can reveal.

Morrisons has opposed an application by Budgens, which is owned by Musgrave, to trademark the name Made Easy for a range of semi-prepared meal kits. The products launched into Budgens stores last August and hit Londis shelves in March.

Morrisons declined to explain why it had opposed the application, but the retailer has held the trademark for the Dinner Made Easy range of dinner kits since August 2010.

Budgens submitted its application to the Intellectual Property Office in July 2013 before launching Made Easy, which includes pork loin steaks with sage & lemon butter and chicken breasts with thyme butter, but it wasn’t opposed by Morrisons until November. Budgens has filed its defence and the IPO is now investigating the dispute.

Trademark attorney Lee Curtis of law firm HGF said the IPO would compare the two side by side. “I would prefer to be Budgens in this instance,” he said, adding that the common element - the words ‘made easy’ - wasn’t a particularly distinct phrase.

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