Robinsons has become the latest brand to take on Aldi with a copycat claim in the High Court.
The soft drinks brand filed a claim in the High Court on 19 March, accusing the discounter of trademark infringement and passing off.
Robinsons is being represented by intellectual property law firm Stobbs, which also represented M&S in a successful claim against Aldi over a copycat gin liqueur.
Further details on Robinsons’ claim are not publicly available, but lawyers have noted similarities in the appearance of Aldi’s Sun Quench Squirty Squash and Robinsons’ Mini.
“We do not know what the claim is about, but can’t help but notice certain similarities with the get-up of the well-known Robinsons brand squash and the Aldi product sold under the Sun Quench brand,” said Kirsten Gilbert, partner and head of brand exploitation, protection and trademark litigation at Marks & Clerk.
Gilbert said the claim signalled the balance of power shifting to brands following Aldi’s defeat in January this year in a trademark infringement claim by Thatchers Cider.
“Following on from the January Court of Appeal decision in the case brought by Thatchers Cider against Aldi concerning Aldi’s Taurus brand of lemon-flavoured cider, the balance of power between brands and supermarket lookalikes may have shifted in favour of the brands.
“This may be the first of several cases we see where the boundaries of this new shift in power are tested. It will be interesting for brand owners to see what happens in this new case against Aldi and the extent to which trademark registrations for the get-up of products can protect against lookalikes in the UK.”
Aldi did not provide a comment.
Robinsons parent Britvic was approached for comment.
It is the latest in a string of legal challenges against Aldi over the resemblance of its own-label products to those of brands, including Thatchers’ successful claim the supermarket had infringed its trademark for its Cloudy Lemon Cider.
In February last year, the Court of Appeal ruled in M&S’s favour in a design infringement claim over a range of gin-based liqueurs, upholding a High Court ruling from the previous year.
That followed M&S suing Aldi over similarities between the discounter’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake and its own Colin the Caterpillar, a claim that ended out of court in a confidential agreement between the two in 2022.
Commenting on LinkedIn, Geoff Steward, head of intellectual property at Addleshaw Goddard, said: “I note that last week Robinsons (drinks) issued a new lookalikes claim v Aldi in the UK. Are the floodgates opening against the serial copyists?”
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