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Tesco wins appeal in trademark fight with Lidl in UK court
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
By Sam Tobin
(Reuters) – Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco can argue at trial that discount supermarket Lidl applied for trademarks for a yellow circle against a blue background in “bad faith” after a London court on Wednesday allowed its appeal.
Tesco filed a counterclaim against Lidl in 2021, in response to its German-owned rival’s lawsuit which said Tesco was trying “to ride on [its] coat-tails” by using a logo of a yellow circle on a blue background to promote its “Clubcard Prices” discount scheme.
Tesco – the grocery market leader in Britain with a 27% share against Lidl’s 7%, according to industry data – argued Lidl registered a trademark of its logo without its name as a “legal weapon” to support the trademark over its more widely used logo.
A lower court dismissed Tesco’s case on bad faith in June, but the Court of Appeal in London ruled on Wednesday that the argument should be part of a trial of Lidl’s initial lawsuit and Tesco’s counterclaim, which is due to be heard at the High Court early next year.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We are pleased with today’s decision. We continue to deny and strongly defend this claim and remain very confident of our position for trial next year.”
A Lidl spokesperson said: “This appeal is only a small procedural aspect of the case and we remain confident in the outcome of the trial in 2023.”
The case is Lidl Great Britain Limited and another v Tesco Stores Limited and another, CA-2022-001407.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
A trademark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression that distinguishes products or services of one entity from those of others, providing legal protection against unauthorized use.
The Court of Appeal is a higher court that reviews decisions made by lower courts, ensuring that the law has been applied correctly and fairly.
Trademark rights are the legal protections granted to the owner of a trademark, allowing them to prevent others from using a similar mark that could cause confusion.
Bad faith in trademark registration refers to the act of registering a trademark with dishonest intentions, such as to harm a competitor or to create confusion.
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