Supermarket chain Aldi copied the look of Marks & Spencer’s “Instagrammable” festive gin bottles, the British retailer has argued at the High Court.
M&S’s current legal challenge, first brought last December, alleges that Aldi’s 2021 gold flake blackberry and clementine gin liqueurs are “strikingly similar” to products for which it holds a registered design. Examples of the products at the centre of the case were brought to a one-day trial at a specialist intellectual property court in London on Friday, to show to Judge Richard Hacon.The bottles include buttons on their base to illuminate the contents.
The inclusion of a light feature was “a strikingly novel design choice” for 2020, he said, with the idea of incorporating it into the base of the bottle coming to a product developer who saw lighting shops on London’s Kensington High Street. M&S is seeking a High Court injunction restraining Aldi from further alleged infringement of its protected designs, an order for Aldi to destroy or hand over anything constituting a potential breach of the injunction, and an inquiry into damages arising from the alleged infringement.