The owner of a boutique Nelson shop selling UK products for ex-pats is the latest retailer to fall victim to high-powered legal threats over their selection of breakfast cereals.
Sanitarium representatives last week walked into English Bob's Emporium in central Richmond demanding it stop selling Weetabix, an English alternative to the New Zealand company's Weet-Bix.
English Bob's owner Bob Wren said he was threatened with legal action if he did not comply immediately.
Sanitarium general manager Pierre van Heerden said selling Weetabix in New Zealand breaches a trademark held by the company.
He added that Weet-Bix could not be sold in England for similar reasons.
"We own the trademark in New Zealand and actually spend a lot of money in marketing those trademarks. So anyone else bringing in products of similar names or similar trademarks are actually infringing those under New Zealand law,'' Mr van Heerden said.
He said it was "normal trade practice'' to protect intellectual property and it did not matter that English Bob's Emporium was only a small boutique shop.
But Mr Wren is furious about the threat and accused Sanitarium of "bullying''.
"They said it sounds too much like Weet-Bix but it's a totally different product - English people ask me to get this in,'' Mr Wren said.
"If they don't want Weetabix going massive then I can understand that. But I'm a boutique English shop selling English stuff. I sell one or two a week. This is corporate bullying.''
He planned to continue selling Weetabix in the meantime, but acknowledged he will probably have to eventually comply with Sanitarium's order because he can not afford to fight the larger company.
Sanitarium ordered Weetabix off the shelves of The English Corner Shop in Auckland's Onehunga in 2010.
Co-owner Rachel Lane said at the time the company had been importing Weetabix and supplying supermarkets for years.
"I've had a lot of heartbroken customers and really irate customers,'' Ms Lane said.
Intellectual property expert Anna Kingsbury said the trademark law aimed to protect consumers from being confused.
"If you go to a shop with imperfect recollection wanting this product and you're confronted with a product that looks similar, that's marked similarly, is there a potential that the consumer would be confused? The idea is we don't want consumers to be confused, we want them to buy the product they intended to buy.''
But the other side of the story was that this case involved a small British shop trying to sell imported British products, Dr Kingsbury added.
"It seems kind of heavy handed to say you can't buy it.
"Hypothetically (Mr Wren) could challenge it, but you'd have to look at it and see what your chances are.
"It's clear that people are going to know they're not buying the New Zealand version, that would give you an argument,'' she said.
The Weetabix Food Company was incorporated in 1932, four years after New Zealand launched Weet-Bix. However, the original creator of the popular breakfast item has links to both companies.
- By Phillip Rollo of Waimea Weekly and Hana Garrett-Walker of APNZ
