Posts Tagged: "KitKat"

Nestlé’s 3D trade mark hopes melting away?

In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s ruling involving Nestlé’s attempt to register a four-finger bar shape as a trade mark in the United Kingdom, meaning – at least for now – it remains unregistered.

How Does the UK Trade Mark Registration System operate?

The news headlines are becoming ever more populated with stories of big brands trying and failing in some instances to register a trade mark for their product. Lindt infamously failed to register their signature gold foiled chocolate bunny in Germany, similarly Rubiks lost its bid to register the EU trademark for the puzzle. The latest addition to this string of companies was Nestlé who attempted and failed to register the KitKat design. Nestlé’s application for trade mark registration failed on the ground that the four finger chocolate bar design was not distinctive enough. This raises the question in the world of intellectual property law as to just what will surpass the trade mark test, and indeed what this test consists of within the UK.

European Court denies Nestlé four-fingered KitKat trademark after Cadbury objection

Most people are familiar with the four-finger KitKat bar which has been produced by Nestlé in the UK since 1935. In 2010 Nestlé decided to apply to register the four-finger shape of the KitKat bar as a trade mark. Cadbury, fearing Nestlé would be able to establish a monopoly on four-fingered chocolate products, raised an objection to the application. Nestlé were initially successful in their application but, following Cadbury’s legal challenge, the case escalated to the High Court and the CJEU where the shape was subjected to further scrutiny and ultimately rejected as a trademark.