Kvikk Lunch victorious after chocolate battle
Nestlé does not have exclusive rights to chocolate coated cookies in the shape of four detachable bars, the European Court of Justice has determined. This according to the online newspaper E24.
Today, the European Court of Justice ruled that Nestlé does not have sole rights to four detachable chocolate fingers in one bar.
It was not sufficient to show that the brand had a «distinctive character» in much of the European Union (EU) as the court demanded that this must be the case throughout EU.
Thus ends a decade of conflicts regarding the exclusive rights to this shape of chocolate coated cookies, at least for the time being.
Sold in the UK
British Cadbury, through its owner Mondelez, who also owns the Norwegian company Freia, took up the fight against Nestlés KitKat in 2007 after the latter in 2002 asked the EU for the trademark «four bars [of chocolate] lying next to each other on a rectangular base», the BBC writes.
According to the British Public Broadcaster, Kvikk Lunch is sold in some shops in the island kingdom.
In 2006, the EU awarded Nestlé with the trademark to the shape. And since then there have been battles in court between the two manufacturers.
Milka, which also owned by Mondelez, manufactures a chocolate bar called the Leo Bar. That is very similar to both Kit Kat and Kvikk Lunch in shape.
90 per cent recognises KitKat
In a survey admitted in court, Nestle claims that KitKat is recognizable to 90 per cent of the respondents without the logo or symbols being present on the chocolate bar. Cadbury says, on its part, that the shape is just a result of being a simple and cheap way to base a chocolate wafer bar, according to BBC.
The European Court of Justice finds it insufficient that the shape is recognisable as KitKat in ten EU countries, as long as it is not the case in the other four.
The European Court of Justice finds it insufficient that the shape is recognisable as KitKat in ten EU countries, as long as it is not the case in the other four.
Both KitKat and Kvikk Lunch have been in the store shelves for more than 80 years, but Kit Kat is two years senior to the Norwegian’s prefered hiking chocolate.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
