In a landmark ruling on look-alikes, the Court of Appeal decided that Aldi infringed on the British cider brand Thatchers’ trademark with its cloudy lemon cider product.
Thatchers launched a legal battle against the German food chain in 2022, claiming that Aldi infringed its trademark by creating and selling a cloudy lemon cider similar to Thatchers’ product.
Aldi’s cloudy lemon cider, Taurus, was launched in May 2022.
Thatchers argued the Aldi product was highly similar to its own lemon cider. It noted the colour palette of yellows and greens and the background of creamy yellow confused customers.
However, last January, High Court judge Melissa Clarke ruled in Aldi’s favour, finding it did not infringe on Thatchers’ trademark.
In her ruling, she noted that there is no likelihood of confusion between the brands, it has a low degree of similarity to the trademark, and Aldi’s use did not take unfair advantage of the trademark.
Thatchers sought to appeal this decision, which went to the Court of Appeal in mid-December.
Aldi infringed on the Thatchers’ trademark
Just slightly over a month since the hearing, the Court of Appeal handed down its ruling on Monday. Leading the judgment was Lord Justice Arnold, who was previously the judge in charge of the Patent Court before he went to the Court of Appeal.
In the 45-page judgment, he allowed Thatchers’ appeal against Judge Clarke’s dismissal and found that Aldi infringed the trademark.
Thatchers’ had law firm Stephens Scown on for it while Aldi had Freeths for its defence.
https://www.cityam.com/judge-rules-aldi-infringed-on-thatchers-cloudy-lemon-cider-trademark/
