A High Court judge has reserved judgement on granting Lidl an injunction against the IFA in relation to the IFA’s campaign on fresh milk sold by the supermarket.

Mr Justice Senan Allen said he would reserve judgement in the case and said he would deliver it as soon as he can.

On 19 March, Lidl launched legal proceedings against the IFA over an advertisement in the Sunday Independent which highlighted that milk for sale in Lidl and Aldi, branded Coolree Creamery (Lidl) and Clonbawn Irish Dairy (Aldi), came from non-existent dairies. Lidl described the IFA advert as defamatory.

'Misleading’

Citing one of the IFA adverts, senior counsel representing the IFA Eoin McCullough told the court on Friday that most of the milk for sale in Lidl is branded as Coolree Creamery.

“No such creamery or dairy exists in Ireland. That’s true and I’m going to establish at trial that it’s true. And I’m going to establish at trial that it is misleading to claim that this milk is produced by Coolree Creamery.

“If the court concludes that the first ad suggests that the plaintiffs are claiming that their milk comes from the Republic of Ireland only and that that’s wrong, well then I say that the proper way to look at these ads is to conclude there is a common sting across them.

“A common sting being that simple one; that the plaintiffs are misleading their customers as to the provenance of product,” he said.

Not lying

Martin Hayden SC, representing Lidl, said that Lidl was not lying about where its milk came from.

“We’re not in breach of any regulations or obligations in relation to packaging.

“The issue here is about an allegation of criminal conduct, an allegation that is in breach of the regulations that the court will have seen from the book of the authorities.

“It’s not credible to suggest that there is a common sting throughout these matters,” he said.