The foil-wrapped chocolate bunny made by premium chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli is celebrating a legal victory, after Switzerland’s highest court ruled that it deserves protection from copycat products, including one made by Lidl.
The federal court in Lausanne has ordered the German discount retailer to stop selling its version of the rabbit-shaped confectionery and to destroy all its remaining stock.
Lindt’s chocolate bunny – wrapped in gold-coloured foil, sporting a red ribbon and small bell, and sitting in a squatting posture – is sold in various sizes and is one of the Swiss brand’s bestselling products, particularly around Easter.
The federal court’s ruling overturned one made last year by a Swiss commercial court, which found against Lindt.
The chocolate maker submitted surveys as part of its case showing that its Gold Bunny was well known to the public, the federal court said, adding that that the Lindt and Lidl rabbits were likely to be confused, even though there were some differences between them.
The court ruled that destruction of Lidl’s stock of bunnies was “proportionate, especially as it does not necessarily mean that the chocolate as such would have to be destroyed”, it said in a summary of its verdict, suggesting they could be melted down and reused somehow.
Surprisingly, Lindt’s chocolate bunny is no stranger to courtroom battles. Lindt has been to court multiple times in recent years to protect its popular treat, of which it sells tens of millions each year.
The company applied for a trademark on the three-dimensional shape of its bunny in 2000, which was granted the following year.
The issue of whether a chocolate bunny can be trademarked subsequently came before Europe’s top court, the European court of justice, after a long battle between Lindt and Austrian rival chocolate maker Hauswirth, which also made gold-wrapped chocolate rabbits with a ribbon around its neck.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/s ... ark-ruling
Chocolate Wascally Wabbits...
Re: Chocolate Wascally Wabbits...
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Chocolate Wascally Wabbits...
Whaaaaaaat? That’s bizarro!
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: Chocolate Wascally Wabbits...
That's a hare raising ruling.