High Court judge Joanna Smith has ruled that Tesco must stop displaying its Clubcard logo as it infringes Lidl’s trade mark rights in the Lidl logo by taking ‘unfair advantage of it’.
Following a hearing in February, the Court has concluded that Tesco’s similar logo intended to pass off the supermarket’s Clubcard prices by deceiving a substantial number of consumers into believing that Tesco’s prices represented the same value as Lidl’s prices when that was not the case.
Lidl first brought a court action against Tesco in December 2020, months after the Clubcard scheme launched, asking the Court to order Tesco to stop using the logo as the discounter felt that it misled consumers with regards to price matching.
“Over the last three years, Tesco has been using its Clubcard logo to deceive many customers into believing that Tesco was price matching against Lidl or was able to offer the same great value as us,” a Lidl GB spokesperson said. “We asked Tesco to change their Clubcard logo, but they refused, making it necessary to bring this case.
“Having seen the evidence, the Court has now ruled that Tesco’s Clubcard logo was copied from Lidl’s logo, and it infringes Lidl’s trade mark rights and copyright. This infringement allowed Tesco to take unfair advantage of our longstanding reputation for great value, misleading their customers at a time when they should have been supporting them. We are pleased that the Court has agreed with us and that it will now order Tesco to stop using the Clubcard logo.”
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Judge Joanna Smith considered that the resemblance took “unfair advantage of the distinctive reputation which resides in the Lidl Marks for low price value.”
She added: “I agree with Lidl that … the effect of the use of the Clubcard logo was to cause a ‘subtle but insidious’ transfer of image from the Lidl logo to the Clubcard logo in the minds of some consumers. This will have assisted Tesco to increase the attraction of their prices.”
Charles Russell Speechlys law firm head of brand protection, Charlotte Duly, believes that from both a general interest perspective and a legal point of view, “there are a number of very interesting issues raised in this case and it will be interesting to see whether this judgment triggers more cases of this kind.”
“This trial has been hugely significant for IP lawyers, those in the retail trade and members of the public at large,” Duly added.
