January 20, 2025
A refreshing change – Thatcher’s succeed in appeal against Aldi lookalike lemon cider
A refreshing change – Thatcher’s succeed in appeal against Aldi lookalike lemon cider

The Court of Appeal (CoA) gave their judgment this morning holding Thatchers’ appeal successful. This is really ground breaking news for brand owners fighting the lookalikes issue.

The CoA has overturned the first instance finding and confirmed that the Aldi lookalike did infringe under s.10(3) by taking unfair advantage of Thatchers’ reputed trade marked packaging.

Two powerful quotes from Lord Justice Arnold are below.

Overall, I conclude that Aldi’s use of the Sign was not in accordance with honest practices in industrial and commercial matters because it was unfair competition.”

That was an unfair advantage because it enabled Aldi to profit from Thatchers’ investment in developing and promoting the Thatchers Product rather than competing purely on quality and/or price and on its own promotional efforts.”

This judgement is great news for those of us who believe that benchmarking a leading product by making the packaging so similar that it brings to mind the market leader is wrong. The fight against lookalikes continues!

More detailed analysis and what take homes there are for brand owners to follow.

You can see our previous post for background to the appeal here.

Tags
Food & Drink /  Trademarks /  Look-a-likes

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