Aldi could be forced to remove popular drink from shelves after 'accusations'
Aldi could be forced to remove a popular drink from shelves after the supermarket was accused of a copycat design. Thatchers had accused the budget supermarket of mimicking the design of its cloudy lemon cider with its Taurus brand.
Thatchers has won a trademark battle with Aldi over its cloudy lemon cider at the Court of Appeal. Thatchers' complaint was initially dismissed by the High Court in London last January, when Judge Melissa Clarke ruled that there was only a slight resemblance between the products and no real risk of customer confusion.
But Thatchers took their grievance to the Court of Appeal in December. On Monday, the appeal was upheld by three judges, including Lord Justice Arnold, who stated that Aldi had indeed infringed on the trademark concerning the imagery on the cans and the cardboard packaging for the four-can pack, but not the Aldi product itself.
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Lord Justice Arnold declared: "In my judgment, it is plain from a comparison between the sign and the trademark that the former closely resembles the latter. The inescapable conclusion is that Aldi intended the sign to remind consumers of the trademark.
This can only have been in order to convey the message that the Aldi product was like the Thatchers product, only cheaper. To that extent, Aldi intended to take advantage of the reputation of the trademark in order to assist it to sell the Aldi product.
He added the fact that “Aldi did not intend consumers to be deceived, or even confused, as to the trade origin of the Aldi product does not detract from this”. The judge continued that Aldi was able to achieve “substantial sales” of the cider in a short period of time “without spending a penny on promoting it”.
Lord Justice Arnold said that in the absence of evidence that Aldi would have achieved equivalent sales of the Aldi product without use of the sign, “it is a legitimate inference that Aldi thereby obtained the advantage from the use of the sign that it intended to obtain”.
An Aldi said: "We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal disagreed with the High Court in this case. We think the Court of Appeal’s decision is wrong and we intend to appeal. Aldi offers exclusive brands as low-price alternatives to more expensive branded products. The High Court was clear that Aldi customers know what they are buying when they shop with us."