ALDI's appeal against a decision that it had infringed on Marks and Spencer's registered design of its gin has been dismissed.

Marks and Spencer launched its intellectual property lawsuit against discount supermarket rival Aldi back in 2021 over a gin range.

The British chain brought out a new line of gin-based liqueurs for Christmas in 2020 that had gold flakes and an LED light in the base of the bottle which illuminated the bottle.

A year later, Aldi started selling gin liqueurs containing gold flakes in a light-up bottle.

The High Court heard the 'look-alike' arguments and ruled that Aldi's designs did not produce a different overall impression from the Marks and Spencer design. The court found last February that Aldi's designs infringed the registered designs.

Aldi tried to appeal the decision and its appeal was heard before Lord Justice Lewison, Lord Justice Moylan and Lord Justice Arnold last month.

However, in a ruling handed down yesterday, the three judges from the Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal.

This is not the first product the shopping chains have battled over. Back in February 2022, Marks and Spencer settled a longrunning dispute with Aldi over its iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake.

The deal resulted in Aldi alternating the appearance of Cuthbert the Caterpillar, its lookalike version.

A spokesperson for Aldi said: "We are disappointed with this judgement and are considering our position, as we still believe there is no merit in the case put forward by Marks and Spencer."

While a spokesperson for Marks and Spencer said: "We take intellectual property seriously and will always defend our rights against infringement - companies that seek to copy rather than innovate harm hundreds of small suppliers who have invested in innovation to grow their business."

(c) 2024 City A.M., source Newspaper