Claim No: IP-2022-000076 - [2024] EWHC 88 (IPEC)

Thatchers is a company through which is operated a family-run business in the alcoholic beverages industry, which was established in 1904 at the family farm Myrtle Farm, Station Road, Sandford Winscombe, Somerset where it is still based. The current Managing Director, Martin Thatcher, is the great-grandson of the founder, William Thatcher. Mr Milton told the Court it was the largest family-run independent cider producer in the UK. Thatchers produces and sells apple and non-apple ciders under its own brand for the retail market, but also for sale in bars and pubs.

Mr Milton’s evidence is that Thatchers has a continuous process of new product development (“NPD”), with more than twenty new cider-related products in development at any one time. As sales director, he was heavily involved in the NPD process for many products. As part of the NPD process, he said, there are weekly tasting sessions for members of the cider-making, marketing and executive teams to try different concepts and flavours of cider.