Judges offer no ‘break’ in Kit Kat trademark war in EU

Luxembourg (AFP) – The European Union’s top court yesterday ordered the EU’s intellectual property office to “reconsider” Kit Kat’s bloc-wide trademark, prolonging Nestle’s decade-long battle to claim exclusive rights over the chocolate bar’s distinctive shape.

Nestle has been locked in a blockbuster legal war with US rival Mondelez, maker of Cadbury chocolate, over the four-fingered wafer biscuit which was first sold in 1935.

In a closely watched case, the European Court of Justice said the EU’s intellectual property office must go back to the drawing board and revisit its 2006 decision to grant Kit Kat an EU trade mark based on its shape.

But in a break for Nestle, the Luxembourg-based ECJ did not cancel the trade mark outright, as suggested by the court’s top advisor in April, with the EU intellectual property office now tasked to re-visit the trademark.

“Today no one has won, no one has lost. Nestle has saved time because its brand remains registered for the time being,” a court source told AFP.

Read more...