Sainsbury’s and Diageo pitch in to battle

Summer isn’t over yet – still plenty of time to enjoy a few glasses of Pimm’s with friends – or is that a few glasses of Pitchers? Diageo, the giant company that owns Guinness, Smirnoff Vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky as well as Pimm’s (and many, many other brands) is threatening to use copyright legislation to take Sainsbury’s to court, alleging that the supermarket’s own brand ‘Pitchers’ is a copy of Pimm’s. Pitchers is a gin-based summer drink which can be mixed with fruit and lemonade. Does this sound familiar? A little like the way you might mix a Pimm’s, perhaps?

Sainsbury’s reject the allegation that they have copied Pimm’s, stating that “Our customers are savvy enough to know exactly what they’re buying, the clue is in the name, and we see no basis for such a claim.” But here is an image of the Pitchers bottle –

and it does look remarkably similar to a bottle of Pimm’s. You can see why Diageo might think that Sainsbury’s are trying to copy their product.

Diageo are also having to protect their relationship with Sainsbury’s, a key customer: “Sainsbury’s is a valued customer of Diageo and we hope will continue to be so for many years. It is Diageo’s firm intent that our strong trading relationship should not be affected by this discrete dispute,” said the drinks firm. On Sainsbury’s online shopping website today you can buy a 70cl bottle of Pitchers for £10.37, and Pimm’s for £11 – although this is reduced from £13.49 until 25th August only. Interestingly, their price for both products is still higher than ‘genuine’ Pimm’s at Asda (£10) and Ocado (£10.36) – so perhaps Diageo shouldn’t worry too much about this anyway.