Waitrose’s lawyers wrote in the Leeds-based supermarket challenging the release of the “Just Essentials by Asda” series on Monday.
Asda retaliated Monday night by saying the word was “generic”.
Waitrose sells about 1,000 products in the “Essential Waitrose” series, which debuted in 2009.
Asda will sell 300 “Just Essentials” items in 581 stores by May, targeting millions of households facing rising grocery and energy bills. The chain said its range would be “the largest economical range of commodities on the market”.
A Waitrose spokesman said: “We are surprised to learn that Asda is launching a range of essential products as the ‘Essential Waitrose’ brand has been in use since 2009 and has established a strong reputation for value, quality and the highest standards of prosperity at the time. .
“As we also protected the name as a trademark, we mentioned it to Asda and we are waiting for a response.”
An Asda spokesman said: “The word ‘necessarily’ is a general term commonly used by retailers to describe their value product lines.”
Asda’s view is that the two brands are not comparable as “Just Essentials” products will be cheaper than Waitrose’s mid-range.
Waitrose declined to say whether it was considering legal action against Asda.
It came as Asda said it was seeking to use the cost-of-living crisis to overtake Sainsbury’s as the UK’s second-largest supermarket by selling a wider range of products at low prices.
Mohsin Issa, who paid 6 6.8 billion for the chain with his brother Zuber and private equity firm TDR in 2020, said he wanted Asda to once again become one of the country’s top grocery stores.
The way to achieve this was by providing customers with “exceptional value”, he added.
Earlier this year, Tesco and Sainsbury’s bosses vowed to keep prices low for buyers. The latter reduced prices to 250 essential items such as meat, fruit and vegetables to match the Aldi discount in February.
The new Asda line includes fresh meat, bakery, detergent and toilet paper.
Mr Issa said: “We understand that consumers are increasingly concerned about the cost of living and want help to keep their grocery accounts under control.”
He said their ambition for Asda was “to regain its position as the second largest grocery retailer in the UK” after the two chains had exchanged second and third place for years.
Sales at Asda were largely unchanged for the year to 31 December, rising just 0.5% to 20 20.4 billion £ and 0.6% compared to the same, excluding fuel.
“Like-for-like” sales fell 2.6% to ,4 5.4 billion in the fourth quarter from 2020, but rose 2.6% from pre-sales levels pandemic.
Asda said its operating profit rose 42% to 69 693 million, largely due to lower Covid-related costs.
Sainsbury’s expects underlying pre-tax profits of at least 20 720 million a year through March 2022.
Mr Issa said: “We are pleased with the progress we have made in the six months since we officially took over the business and we are confident that we can achieve this long-term ambition by delivering exceptional value to our customers.”
