KitKat set to lose protected four-fingered status

Image Credit- www.nestle-cwa.com

As you may be aware, Nestle (the manufacturers of the KitKat bar) and Mondelez (the food conglomerate and owner of Cadbury) have been embroiled in an 11 year legal battle over the protection of the KitKat chocolate bar.

History…

The battle began in 2002, when KitKat applied for and obtained protection of its design at the EU’s IPO. This registration was contested by Cadbury Schweppes in 2007 and taken over by its predecessor Kraft.

Decision…

In April, a senior jurist at the ECJ ruled that the bar did not deserve a pan-European trademark because it was not well known in all EU member states. This ruling has been upheld by the European court of justice (ECJ with the following statements;

·        The four trapezoidal bars aligned on a rectangular base will not be entitled to protection from copycats.

·        Previous judges had been right to annul EU IPO’s decision that KitKat had acquired a distinctive character.

·        The EU’s general court did not err in law when it found special status could only be granted when the design feature was associated with one brand throughout EU territory “and not only in a substantial part.

Image Credit-Amazon UK

Costs…

• ·        The judges did not award costs to either company, thus they will have to pay their own legal bills, which were undisclosed.
• ·        The EU IPO, which went to court in defence of its original decision, has also been ordered to pay its own costs, as has a trademark association that supported Nestlé.

Parties' comments…

• ·        Mondelēz - “We are pleased that the decision of the European court of justice supports our position.”
• ·        Nestlé - “We believe that the distinctive shape of our four-finger KitKat deserves protection and, following today’s findings, the case will now be sent back to the EUIPO board of appeal to examine the evidence that Nestlé has filed,”

News Source- The Guardian