Lidl's US operation is hitting back at claims by rival Kroger that the discounter's Preferred Selection private-label brand too closely resembles the latter's Private Selection.
As reported by Business Insider, Lidl filed papers in a Virginia US District Court on Friday, in which it said that Kroger has 'offered a striking absence of evidence in support of its claims'.
'Disrupt The Launch'
'[According to Lidl,] Kroger is using this lawsuit to try to: disrupt the ongoing launch of a new, emerging competitor that offers consumers high-quality products at far lower prices; distract from the positive reviews garnered by Lidl’s launch by painting Lidl as a copycat – when in fact Lidl is a decidedly different and (better) grocery experience; and drive up Lidl’s costs by having to defend against Kroger’s spurious claims,' Business Insider reported.
Lidl also claims that Kroger announced a lower earnings guidance for the year on the same day that Lidl opened its first stores in the US in mid-June, filing its suit two weeks later, 'on the Friday evening before the long July 4th weekend, and sought to have a hearing just days later to try to ram through extraordinary competitive relief to which it is not entitled.'
Kroger Claims
In its lawsuit, Kroger had claimed that the alleged similarity between the two brand names has enabled Lidl to 'compete unfairly' with Kroger, as customers may assume that the two brands are the same.
'As a direct result of Lidl’s wrongful conduct, Kroger has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable injury,' the lawsuit reads.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
