Melt all your bunnies, Lidl told by court

14 comments
  1. Article contents:

    Thousands of bunnies are to be destroyed after a court ruling. Thankfully, the creatures in question are made of chocolate but the process may still be traumatic for shoppers at Lidl.

    A Swiss court has ruled that the German supermarket chain must stop selling its treats and melt them down because they are too similar to Lindt’s Easter bunnies.

    The country’s highest court ruled that Lindt deserves protection from copycat products, overruling a decision last year by a Swiss commercial court.

    The Swiss chocolate maker submitted surveys as part of its case showing that its gold foil bunny, which comes with a red necktie and bell, was well known to the public. The federal court concluded that the Lindt and Lidl rabbits were likely to be confused.

    The court ruled that the destruction of Lidl’s bunnies was “proportionate, especially because it does not necessarily mean that the chocolate would have to be destroyed”, suggesting they could be melted and reused.

    The Lindt brand, which is owned by Lindt & Sprüngli, applied for a trademark on the shape of its bunny in 2000.

    The company said it did not want to force other bunny manufacturers out of the market, but was defending itself against copycats exploiting the reputation it had built for years.
    Lidl had not responded to requests for comment last night.

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    Poor bunnies 🙁

  2. I doubt they destroy them. I guess they will transport them outside the Switzerland “to be destroyed” but in reality they will just sell them elsewhere.

  3. Isn’t that lot of waste of energy, why not force lidl to pay royalty for using the design and ban them from repeating it from next year?

  4. >A Swiss court has ruled that the German supermarket chain must stop selling its treats and melt them down because they are too similar to Lindt’s Easter bunnies.

    The country’s highest court ruled that Lindt deserves protection from copycat products, overruling a decision last year by a Swiss commercial court.

    Making a cheaper copy of a local product is basically the Lidl’s business model. But they will most likely load it onto truck and sell it here where most people wouldn’t buy the real overpriced Lindt bunnies anyway.

  5. If the confusion is just at time of purchase, why not just re-wrap them, on top of the existing foil, and restock/sell them? Seems a stupid waste if it’s just an issue of the presentation at time of sale.

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