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.
Trademark Tussle
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.”
Last month, Tesco forecast full-year core profit to be around the lower end of its previous guidance, saying there were significant uncertainties over the macro outlook.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. For more retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
