Maintaining they did not copy Frankie’s, but with public sentiment going against Woolworths, the company decides it will be prudent not to provoke fiery tempers.

Despite only being asked to remove the “Good Old-Fashioned” slogan from its range of soft drinks, Woolworths has decided to remove the entire product range from its shelves, CEO Ian Moir said yesterday.

In what has been called the modern-day version of David and Goliath, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) yesterday ruled in favour of small homemade soft-drinks brewer Frankie’s and ordered giant retailer Woolworths to remove products with the copied slogan.

Last December, Frankie’s MD Mike Schmidt accused Woolworths of stealing his intellectual property and laid a complaint with the ASA. He alleged the company cloned the flavour names of his soft drinks and used his slogan “good old-fashioned soft drinks”.

Social media networks were abuzz with comments on the story, with the majority siding with Frankie’s.

“We are disappointed by this decision as we believed that no one could own this descriptor,” Mr Moir said yesterday.