A FAMILY-RUN pet food company which became embroiled in a legal wrangle with Mars Incorporated has revealed that it could have suffered drastic losses if it had not won its battle.

North Yorkshire company Burgess Supafeeds was taken to court by Mars after it released a new brand, Supa Cat, which Mars claimed was too similar to its product Whiskas.

Mars sought an injunction to stop Burgess selling the feed until the packaging was changed because it argued the bags infringed its trademarks.

But as The Northern Echo revealed yesterday, a judge at the High Court rejected the claim and insisted no "reasonably alert" customer would confuse the two products.

Burgess's marketing manager Bernard Maher said: "Had Mars won this injunction, they would have potentially put us out of the market for up to six months.

"We have had to hold back in terms of range development and this judgement will allow us to push on to fully establish the Supa Cat brand."

The brand had been launched for just a few weeks when Mars applied for the injunction, claiming the purple packaging used for Whiskas and Supa Cat was too alike.

Mr Maher added: "Initial trade and consumer reaction to Supa Cat has been extremely positive.

"Such a major disruption to our launch would have been very damaging to our credibility and customer confidence, which would have been difficult to recover from."

York-based commercial lawyers Dennison Till advised Burgess, of Thornton-le-Dale near Pickering, during the legal battle.

Johanne Spittle, the head of the legal firm's litigation department, said: "It is not conceivable that Burgess Supa Cat infringed the Whiskas trademark.

"Like a growing number of businesses operating in highly competitive markets, Burgess realised how important it is to protect and defend their trademark and brand by seeking appropriate specialist advice."