UK discount retailer Poundland has defended its Twin Peaks chocolate bar, following a legal challenge from Toblerone's parent company, Mondeléz, according to The Guardian.
The private-label bar was initially planned to be launched at the end of June, however, this was delayed following legal action from confectionery giant Mondeléz, which claimed that the bar was a copy of its own Toblerone product.
Product Changes
It is reported that Poundland's defence argues that the triangular prism shape of the Toblerone bar, which was registered under an EU trademark in 1997, is no longer distinctive, after the company released a new version of the bar last year.
It adds that the reputation of the trademark has been 'irretrievably abandoned' by the launch of the product with bigger gaps between its nine chunks.
Poundland said that Twin Peaks was developed in response to Toblerone's recent product changes, which changed the shape of the classic bar and reduced its weight by 20g.
“Poundland shoppers are savvy, and the change in their favourite chocolate bar last Christmas didn’t go unnoticed," said Poundland's trading director, Barry Williams. "That’s why we’ve created a new £1 alternative for them – the size they wanted, with a British taste, and with all the spaces in the right places.”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
