Thatchers is suing Aldi for alleged trademark infringement, accusing the supermarket of copying its Cloudy Lemon Cider.
The drinks brand claims Aldi has “intentionally mimicked” its product with the “highly similar” appearance of the discounter’s Taurus Cloudy Cider Lemon.
The 115-year-old family-run cider maker, based in Somerset, is seeking an injunction restraining Aldi from selling the cider, along with damages of at least £500,000 at London’s High Court.
In court papers, Thatchers argues Aldi has taken “unfair advantage” of its brand reputation.
“The defendant, by its use of the graphics on the Aldi product, seeks to ride on the coattails of the substantial reputation of the trademark in order to benefit from its power of attraction, fame, and/or prestige, and to exploit the marketing effort expended by the claimant,” the court papers say.
It argues consumers could be confused into buying Aldi’s product in the mistaken belief it has a link to Thatchers’ one, and that its brand reputation could be tarnished by the quality and taste of the supermarket’s cider.
“The interesting part is unfair advantage,” said Geoff Steward, head of litigation at Stobbs. “That is where Thatchers could succeed. It is unlikely they will be able to prove confusion.”
It’s the latest in a long line of high-profile copycat claims against Aldi. In 2021 the supermarket reached a confidential out of court agreement with M&S in a dispute over alleged similarities between caterpillar cakes sold by the two retailers. A new version of Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar returned to stores in June last year.
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In December last year it emerged M&S had launched another High Court action against Aldi, this time for allegedly copying its ‘Light Up’ gin.
In 2020, BrewDog teased Aldi on Twitter over similarities between its ‘Anti-Establishment’ beer and the brand’s Punk IPA. BrewDog’s CEO James Watt said the brand would launch a new beer called ‘BrewDog Aldi IPA’ and send some to the supermarket. The product later launched in Aldi stores.
In 2019, Aldi redesigned the packaging of its Italian-style chicken sausages after Heck owner Andrew Keeble accused it of mimicking the brand’s Chicken Italia sausages.
The supermarket was also accused of copying by Yoghurt maker The Collective in 2018.
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