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Aldi has been defeated by Somerset drinks company Thatchers in a bitter legal battle over a “copycat” cloudy lemon cider.
In a “watershed” ruling from the Court of Appeal, a panel of three judges found that Aldi had infringed trademark rights by designing an own-brand cider that would remind customers of a rival product from Thatchers.
The court said this amounted to “unfair competition”.
It marks the latest twist in the long-running tussle between Aldi and Thatchers, which have been at loggerheads ever since the former launched its Taurus cloudy lemon cider in May 2022.
Thatchers, which rolled out its own version two years earlier, subsequently launched a claim against Aldi on the basis that its drink had been copied in both “taste and appearance”.
The High Court had initially dismissed Thatchers’ claim last January after deciding there was “no likelihood of confusion” for consumers.
However, in a ruling issued on Monday, the Court of Appeal said it believed Aldi had designed its Taurus cloudy lemon ciders so that they would remind customers of Thatchers’ drinks.
The judgment said: “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.”
Geoff Steward, an intellectual property lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard, said the decision would be seen as “a watershed moment for lookalikes and a significant trademark law development which is long overdue”.
He added: “The scale and proximity of look-alike packaging in the UK is far worse than anywhere else in Europe. Armed with the correct packaging trademark registrations, UK brand owners can now sound the death knell on the practice of supermarket own-brands free-riding on their brand intellectual property.”
It follows earlier legal battles over trademarks involving Aldi, which has vowed to appeal against the latest decision.
In early 2023, the German discounter lost a court row with Marks & Spencer over its “copycat” gin bottles that featured LED lights.
Aldi and M&S had also previously reached a settlement over the Cuthbert the Caterpillar chocolate sponge roll, which M&S argued was a knock-off of its popular Colin the Caterpillar cake.
A spokesman for 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. We will continue to produce high-quality exclusive brands for our customers at unbeatable prices.”