A London court penultimate Wednesday, May 17, 2017 has rejected
an attempt by Nestle to trademark the distinctive four-fingered shape of the KitKat
chocolate bar in Britain, reports NaijaAgroNet.
According to The
Washington Times, the four finger KitKat bar, which is characteristic of
Nestle’s Kit Kat bar not a trademarkable feature, the Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday, in what the BBC described as “the latest twist in a
decade-long UK chocolate wars saga between Nestle and Cadbury.”
NaijaAgroNet
recalls that issue at stake has been the sale in the U.K. of the Norweigan
candy bar, Kvikk Lunsj, which also has a four-finger shape, although its
packaging is distinctive and not readily confused with that of the Kit Kat bar.
The UK court affirmed the evidentiary findings of a lower
court, which had rejected Nestle’s claim for trademark protection.
“As the Hearing Officer said here, trade marks are intended
to permit consumers to make informed choices between the competing goods of
different undertakings in the course of trade,” Lord Justice David Kitchin
wrote for the court. “The shape of the KIT KAT bar has not been used to promote
or market KIT KATs in recent times. It has nothing, therefore, to do with the
informed choices that consumers make between similar products.”
For its part, Nestle suggests the ruling is out of step with
legal protections in other country where Kit Kat is sold.
“NestlĂ©’s four-finger shape has been granted trademark
registration in many countries of the world, for instance,” The
Washington Times reported.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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