Lidl plans to take Tesco to court over claims that the Clubcard loyalty scheme logo is a direct copy of the German discounter’s logo.
Collectively, the court case is set to cost £2.35 million, with Tesco estimated to be spending £1.19 million and Lidl legal costs amassing £1.17 million.
The German supermarket chain has accused Tesco of copying the background to Lidl’s trademarked logo, which contains the instantly recognisable blue square and yellow circle embedded within.
For three years Tesco has also used a blue square and yellow circle to advertise its Clubcard discounts, which Lidl hails as an infringement of its trademark.
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This is not the first time Lidl has looked to sue as just last year the discounter took the UK’s largest supermarket to court over the twin-like logos.
Mrs Justice Joanna Smith explained in a pre-trial hearing: “Essentially, Lidl says that Tesco is seeking deliberately to ride on the coattails of Lidl’s reputation as a “discounter” supermarket known for the provision of value.”
For supportive evidence, Lidl will use the results of a customer survey, in which members of the public were shown a version of the logo containing no text. A large majority of those surveyed pointed to the logo belonging to Lidl.
Justice Smith dismissed Tesco’s attempt to brand this survey evidence as ‘inadmissible’.
Further documents from the case see Tesco describe the ‘wordless mark’ as a “figment of Lidl’s legal imagination”.
A date for the official court case has not yet been finalised.
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