The irony doesn’t escape ACID that after many copying complaints by ACID members against Marks & Spencer in David v Goliath lookalike issues (Lisa Bruce, Lucky Locket, Codis Meyer, Rachael Taylor to name a few) that Marks and Spencer find themselves in a copying battle though this time Goliath v Goliath! Is this a poacher turned gamekeeper scenario?

The case involves “Colin the Caterpillar” children’s cake and Aldi’s “Cuthbert the Caterpillar”, with M&S fiercely defending against the lookalike “Cuthbert” which may infringe their IP rights and threaten the continuing sales of £15m.  M&S have issued a High Court action and want Aldi
to remove their cake from sale and discontinue further sales.

Dids Macdonald, OBE., CEO of ACID said, “Defending IP rights of any legitimate owner/creator is part of a proactive IP strategy and it will be interesting to see what happens in this high-profile case. Major brands producing lookalikes in the UK have long been an issue. In the UK we do not have unfair competition laws and so this case will be about “passing off” of the trade mark – very difficult for the “little guy” to pursue because they are unknown brands versus, usually, major brands but not so difficult for major brands. This is because it will be down to the question of “consumer confusion” and whether M&S can prove that consumers would be confused about buying the Aldi brand thinking it was the same as the M&S cake. More so, it is about brand positioning, piggy backing on the higher quality product by a lower quality and lower priced brand. In other words, a Colin or a cheaper Cuthbert! Watch out Waitrose with their “Cecil” caterpillar, Tesco with their “Curly”, and Asda’s Clyde! We will be watching the Judgment closely.”

Aldi, too, are no strangers to ACID and copying complaints, a recent case involving ACID member BaBaBing! is reported here.

Further reporting in the Evening Standard here and FT here.

Image Sourced from the Independent.