Tesco has lost its appeal against a ruling that it infringed Lidl’s trademark, with it now facing a costly rebranding of its Clubcard Prices scheme.
In April 2023, the discounter won a legal case against the UK’s biggest grocery retailer over the use of a yellow circle on a square blue background to promote its ‘Clubcard Prices’ offers.
Lidl had originally sued Tesco in 2020, shortly after it adopted a colour scheme that was similar to the German firm’s company logo.
After the case was heard at London’s High Court last year, the Judge issued a ruling that said Tesco had taken “unfair advantage of the distinctive reputation” for low prices held by Lidl’s trademarks.
Weeks after Lidl won the legal battle, the High Court ruled that the discounter could have an injunction to stop Tesco from copying its logo.
Tesco’s lawyers argued it was unnecessary to impose an injunction and that its infringement of Lidl’s trademark could be resolved by paying a small amount of damages. It was highlighted at the time how difficult it would be for Tesco to remove all the Clubcard Prices logos in its stores, with the cost estimated at nearly £8m.
Tesco sought to overturn the trademark infringement ruling at a hearing last month, but today, the Court of Appeal kept with the original decision. The court did overturn a decision on copyright in Tesco’s favour, but the group will now have to stop using its Clubcard Prices logo in the current form.
A Lidl spokesperson welcomed the decision, saying: “We expect Tesco now to respect the court’s decision and change its Clubcard logo to one that is not designed to look like ours.”
Tesco stated that it planned to update the logo shortly, with a spokesperson saying: “We are disappointed with the judgment relating to the colour and shape of the Clubcard Prices logo but would like to reassure customers that it will in no way impact our Clubcard Prices programme.”
NamNews Implications:
- Fortunately, the Clubcard Prices idea is now so embedded…
- …Tesco can take the £8m hit…
- …produce a ‘modernised’ logo sufficiently distant from Lidl…
- …and get on with what really matters.
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