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.

Popular posts from this blog

Word Marks? Logo Marks? What’s The Difference?

  So a trademark is your brand, which can be in a form of a word, picture, symbol, or a combination of these. Interestingly enough, 3D objects and sounds can also be registered aside from word trademarks and logo marks. What it does, is to seperate your brand from other goods and services that your competitors may offer. You should consider owning a trademark because it protects you and your consumers from counterfeit and fraud. Also, legal action for a trademark infringement is relatively cheap, sometimes as little as a few thousand pounds, compared to the hundreds of thousands of pounds you have to pay for an action claim of passing off in UK, same goes in the US. Trademarks allow the Trading Standards Officer or the police to criminally charge against counterfeit who use your trademark without your consent. It’s a good way to protect your hard earned good name, don’t you think? But what exactly will you register? A  word mark  registers the word itself you want to use, Apple/Puma/Zy
Read more

Trademark Registration dispute over Keep Calm and Carry On

Image
   WE NEED YOU! Join us to fight for the right of UK businesses to use the much loved slogan ‘KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON’ When  ‘KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON’  was used by the British Government in 1939, Britain was facing a possible invasion. Today, we are seeing the long arm of Europe encroaching on our national heritage again. The EU has granted an EU Community Trade Mark to  ‘KEEP CALM AND  CARRY ON’  meaning that only one company may use the slogan for  clothing, mugs, posters and other memorabilia. This could potentially put  many companies out of business. This is wrong and we do not believe it would have been accepted by the UK Trade Mark Registry for the following reasons: ‘KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON’  is part of the UK’s national heritage, first being used in 1939 on government posters to strengthen morale in the face of a possible German invasion Prior to the trade mark being registered, many businesses used  ‘KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON’  as decoration on a wide variety of goods This means th
Read more