Aldi Stores Ltd (defendant/appellant) v Marks and Spencer PLC (claimant/respondent)
Tuesday 23 January 2024
By Appellant’s Notice filed on 17 March 2023, the Appellant, Aldi, appeals the Order dated 24 February 2022 of HHJ Hacon sitting in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts, Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court, declaring that the Appellant infringed the Respondent’s Registered Designs, Ordering a prohibitory injunction, delivery up or destruction of infringing products and an inquiry into damages.
Background – In the Autumn of 2020 the Respondent introduced a new line of gin based liqueurs for the Christmas market. The bottles are festively decorated and the liqueur contains gold flakes which become suspended in the liquid when the bottle was shaken. An LED in the base of the bottle illuminates the contents of the bottle.
In November 2021 the Appellant started selling gin liqueurs containing gold flakes in a light up bottle.
The Respondent brought a claim for infringement under the Registered Designs Act 1949.
The Judge found that the Appellant’s designs do not produce a different overall impression to the Respondent’s design and found that the Appellant’s designs infringed the registered designs.
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