Colin the Caterpillar trademark dispute

 It’s gloves off between M&S and Aldi. With the venerable UK retailer claiming infriongement of their “Colin the Caterpillar” trademark by the discounter’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake. Leading them to file an intellectual property claim with the High Court this week.

M&S claims that the similarity in name and Goods – both are cakes – leads consumers to believe they are of the same standard and “rides on the coat-tails” of M&S’s reputation. And can claim 30 years use of “Colin the Caterpillar” as well as three registered trademarks.

M&S may have been the first retailer to sell a caterpillar cake, but many supermarkets now have similar products. These include Waitrose’s Cecil, Sainsbury’s Wiggles, Tesco’s Curly, and Asda’s Clyde the Caterpillar.

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