Legal victory for Lindt in German chocolate bunny case
A German court has ruled that the golden colour of the foil wrap on Swiss firm Lindt & Sprüngli’s popular chocolate Easter Bunny enjoys protected status.
The Federal Court of Justice delivered its verdict on Thursday in a battle between Lindt and German company Heilemann, which in 2018 also marketed a chocolate bunny in a gold foil wrap. Lindt claimed it had a trademark on the colour, acquired by use, and that Heilemann had infringed this trademark and should be prevented from selling its product.
A state court in Munich ruled against Lindt last year. But the federal court found the Swiss company had proven that the gold of its bunny had acquired trademark status by reputation, citing a survey presented by the manufacturer showing 70% of respondents associated the hue with the Lindt product.
The court said it didn’t matter that Lindt didn’t use the gold colour for all or even most of its products, or that its bunny has other distinguishing features, such as a red collar.
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That said, enjoying trademark status by reputation is not everything: in order to determine if another company has infringed the protected status, the relevant question is whether buyers could be confused by the similarity. This is something that is also determined by shape and other features, the court said.
Federal judges thus sent the case back to Munich, where a court will determine whether Heilemann actually infringed on Lindt’s trademark by producing a confusingly similar bunny.
Lindt has sold its Gold Bunny in Germany since 1952, and the product has had its current gold shade since 1994. It is by some distance the best-selling chocolate Easter bunny in Germany, with a market share of over 40% in 2017, according to the court.
Lindt has for decades been trying to protect the market position and status of its gold bunny, with varying success: while it enjoys trademark status in some European countries like Austria (where it successfully challenged a rival bunny in 2011), its attempt to get the status at the EU level was rejected in 2012. The following year it lost a similar case it had fought against German brand Confiserie Riegeln since 2000.
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Lindt, which traces its origins to a Zurich confectionery shop set up in the 1840s, has been fighting Germany’s Confiserie Riegelein since 2000 to try to stop it producing similar chocolate bunnies. But on Thursday, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice rejected a final appeal by Lindt. “We’re very glad that this case has found a…
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On Monday a court in Vienna ordered Hauswirth to stop using a trademarked chocolate bunny design. Lindt applied for and received a trademark for its gold tinfoil-wrapped bunny with red ribbon and bell in 2000. It then began taking action against chocolate makers who it felt were making bunnies too similar to its own. Hauswirth…
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The court upheld an earlier ruling by the commerce court in Vienna which ordered Austrian rival Hauswirth to stop producing chocolate bunnies in a gold foil wrapping. The firm must immediately cease production and distribution of the products across the European Union territory. Lindt applied for and received a trademark for its gold tinfoil-wrapped bunny…
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