EXCLUSIVE: Lower-cost alternatives could now be under threat, after M&S started legal action against Aldi with a claim that its rival's Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake infringes its trademark on Colin. Mark Caddle, a partner at the intellectual property firm, Withers & Rogers, described the case as the “battle of the caterpillars”. Marks & Spencer is taking Aldi to court in a bid to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake. Marks & Spencer launched Colin the Caterpillar, right, in 1990 but is not happy about Aldi’s Cuthbert. There was also a row between Heck, the sausage brand, and Aldi over similar packaging. January 27, 2017 - 13:58 GMT. (M&S) The legal move has been mocked on social media with users pointing out that all major supermarkets have their own version of the chocolate cake. She comes with pink trainers, lipstick and a hair bow. Marks and Spencer’s “Colin the Caterpillar” cake is a children’s birthday staple and the supermarket is in no mood to let rivals to crash the party. "Brand owners resent such activity and regard it as ‘free-riding’ off the brand owner’s time, cost and effort in building up and promoting their brands.". Colin's appearance has been substantially unchanged since around 2004, except for adaptations for events such as Halloween and Christmas, and related products such as Connie the Caterpillar. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. It had a similar row with the sausage brand Heck. More than 15 million Colins have been sold since it … In 2019, the chain delisted its Moo gourmet yoghurt after the cofounder of Collective, Amelia Harvey, claimed the products looked too similar to the brand’s own. In 2019, it axed a yoghurt range after Collective co-founder Amelia Harvey claimed the products looked too similar to her own. Celebrate with a loved one with the romantic twist on our iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake and a selection of tasty sweet treats in an exclusive Colin and Connie gift bag. M&S have launched a Valentine's cake featuring both Colin and Connie the Caterpillar Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - Money Deals Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. It is not the first time copycat claims have been levelled at Aldi. In the range of cakes, there’s also Colin’s girlfriend, Connie the Caterpillar, mini caterpillars and an extra-large version. So we want to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value.” Aldi declined to comment. Lawyers at Dentons logged an intellectual property claim with the High Court this week asking Aldi to stop selling the Cuthbert cake and agree not to sell anything similar in the future. Connie the Giant Caterpillar cake serves 40 people, weighing in at 2kg. In 2016, M&S introduced Connie the Caterpillar as Colin’s girlfriend, she was a great success. . Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake has been on sale in Aldi stores since 2019. The Colin the Caterpillar cake, first introduced in 1990, has spawned multiple spin-off products for M&S (see below), including a female version called Connie the Caterpillar, launched in 2016. M&S will presumably be confident that it has sufficient evidence of the shape's distinctiveness to prevail.". It is not the first time Aldi landed in hot water over the design of some products. The two firms ended up collaborating on a product after the spat. “The high court’s decision will rest on whether it thinks Aldi is seeking to benefit commercially by bringing a confusingly similar product to market.”, Colin the Caterpillar at 30: how a supermarket cake stole the nation's heart. An M&S spokesman said the company wanted to protect Colin, Connie and "our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value". Colin the Caterpillar made his debut in 1990 and, with more than 15m cake sales under his belt has, like Rihanna, become known to fans by just his first name. M&S, which has lodged an intellectual property claim with the high court this week, has three trademarks relating to its caterpillar cake, including the words “Colin the Caterpillar” and the packaging. M&S has registered at least two trademarks relating to the cake. John Coldham, IP partner at law firm Gowling WLG, said that the two products were "very similar indeed - much closer, it seems, than other caterpillar cakes offered by other retailers". Colin the Caterpillar. “Colin the Caterpillar has been very popular in the UK market, which could aid M&S’s case,” Caddle said. Pick up a Colin the Caterpillar cake and other sweet treats in store or order our Colin gift set online. And Tesco's, named "Curly The Caterpillar Cake" and the description: "Chocolate buttercream Milk chocolate covered Swiss roll, topped with sweets for a fun cake." As reported by the BBC, a spokesperson for M&S said: Order the Colin gift set. Marks and Spencer wants Aldi to remove the cake from sale and agree not to sell anything similar in the future. Sign up to Mirror Money's newsletter for the latest advice and news Colin the Caterpillar made his debut in 1990 and, with more than 15m cake sales under his belt has, like Rihanna, become known to fans by just his … Tesco and Waitrose shoppers ‘obsessed’ with brand new ice cream The first ever Colin the Caterpillar cake was released in 1990 and has since gone through quite a few transformations. Now it has started legal action against Aldi, arguing that the other supermarket’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake infringes Colin’s trademark, “riding on the coat-tails” of M&S’s reputation. The 625g cake costs £7 - £1.12 per 100g. Everybody loves a Colin the Caterpillar cake, but if you want to win some serious brownie points, then why not go for a double whammy, and buy his girlfriend Connie, too? (Photo: M&S/PA Wire) By Jane Clinton. Colin the Caterpillar is all loved up this Valentine's Day. Colin's appearance has remained largely unchanged for more than 15 years, according to the company, although M&S regularly launched sister products such as Connie the Caterpillar and Halloween and Christmas versions. Introducing Flower Power Connie the Caterpillar, wearing a floral headband and decorated with pink and yellow flowers, which match her pink high tops. M&S’s Colin was launched in 1990, and has remained substantially unchanged since about 2004, except for adaptations for events such as Halloween and Christmas, and related products such as Connie the Caterpillar. Last year, BrewDog posted on Twitter the similarities between Aldi’s Anti-Establishment Beer and the brand’s Punk IPA. It is a key part of its partnership with cancer charity Macmillan. There are countless Colin related products available from the classic cake to Colin faces to his female counterpart, Connie the Caterpillar. He said this could be why M&S had taken legal action against Aldi: "Trademark cases on shapes of products are notoriously difficult, as most recently seen by Nestle in its attempts to protect the shape of a KitKat, but all these cases turn on the evidence. This is not just food; Colin the Caterpillar is copyrighted M&S food, according to its makers.Marks & Spencer has issued legal proceedings alleging that Aldi has infringed its chocolate cake … High street chain lodges intellectual property claim and demands grocer stop selling discount sponge roll, Last modified on Thu 15 Apr 2021 14.58 EDT. In May 2016 the supermarket launched Connie the Caterpillar - a strawberry and chocolate flavoured 'girlfriend' for Colin. It wants Aldi to remove Cuthbert from its shelves and agree not to sell anything similar in the future. Find out more, Colin the Caterpillar (left) and its Aldi rival Cuthbert, Marks & Spencer is taking legal action against Aldi over its copycat version of Colin the Caterpillar, Flexible rail season ticket proposals come under fire, High time to hold bankers' feet to the fire, Ocado gets on the road to self-driving delivery vans, Fewer workers fled UK after pandemic struck than feared. M&S claims it infringes its trademark and could lead shoppers to falsely believe the two products are sourced to the same standards. Colin the caterpillar cake and Connie are getting married. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. So it’s no surprise that Colin the Caterpillar wedding cakes are taking over ceremonies across the country, with multiple versions going viral online in recent weeks. There's a reason more than seven million Colin the Caterpillar cakes have been sold since 1990, it's the best of the bunch. M&S’ Colin cake retails for £7, while Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake costs £4.99. M&S launched Colin … In other words, they are alleging that Aldi has been baking bad. If it is successful, M&S will then need to demonstrate that Aldi's Cuthbert is so similar that it is a misrepresentation to consumers. Download the Colin the Caterpillar activity pack "They do it so in the hope that, when coming across the Aldi product, consumers instinctively adopt the same positive feelings and emotions as they have about the branded product. Ainhoa Barcelona Colin the caterpillar cake and Connie are getting married! There have been a number of similar disputes in recent years, including a 2018 row when Hotel Chocolat accused Waitrose of plagiarism. It is being billed as the ultimate food fight and could get nasty: Colin the Caterpillar is going to war with lookalike Cuthbert. Colin the Caterpillar is a national tasty treasure with millions of fans and now even his own section of the M&S website, the world of Colin the Caterpillar. The cake is a sponge with milk chocolate and buttercream, topped with chocolate sweets and … Aldi has hit back at Marks & Spencer as the war of the caterpillar cakes rages on. Alongside the standard Connie and Colin, M&S is also selling other giant variations of the cake couple. His fame has led to a number of brand extensions, including his girlfriend (cake) Connie and most recently his branded cake jars, which caused a storm on social media. Marks & Spencer's Connie the Caterpillar Cake - partner to our beloved Colin - is stepping out solo and she's had a glorious spring makeover to match, just in time for Mother's Day.. Colin was launched by Marks & Spencers back in 1990 and since then the brand has gone from strength to strength and the store even added by offering shoppers the chance to buy girlfriend Connie the Caterpillar cake, as well as launching numerous colin-themed snacks including cake jars, cake-sized colin faces, and even Easter makeovers of the tasty treat. One wag suggested the pots represented the “rather gross metamorphosis stage between Colin the Caterpillar and Colin the Beautiful Butterfly”. Colin wed in the past few years to another chocolate caterpillar cake with Strawberry flavouring named Connie. After getting married and having babies together, Colin the Caterpillar (yes, the M&S cake you remember from every office birthday) and his beloved Connie are … In a picture shared on the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Bridal Boutique Facebook page, the couple had the two large cakes displayed on forest-themed podiums for guests to admire. Giant personalised Colin the Caterpillar and Connie the Caterpillar cakes are now available to order from M&S for birthdays and celebrations. The retailer has accused the discounter chain of riding on its reputational coat-tails after Aldi began selling its own Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which looks very similar. He is also known for his philanthropy, thanks to a tie-up with the cancer charity Macmillan. Marks will need to prove that the appearance of their cake was so well known that it had its own goodwill, meaning that consumers would recognise it as being an M&S product without any other visual cues. Carl Steele, a partner at law firm Ashfords, said: "For many years now Aldi have been selling products under brand names and using packaging that is similar to that of well-known and established brands. Colin the Caterpillar (left) and its Aldi rival Cuthbert Marks & Spencer is taking legal action against Aldi in a bid to to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake. Other supermarkets have created their own similar cakes after M&S designed theirs including Waitrose's Cecil, Sainsbury's Wiggles, Tesco's Curly, and Asda's Clyde the Caterpillar. M&S is suing Aldi in what has been deemed the "trial of the century" over a lookalike Colin the Caterpillar cake (known as Cuthbert). M&S launched Colin the Caterpillar around 30 … Colin the Caterpillar was first launched by M&S in 1990 and the cake’s appearance has remained largely the same since 2004. Pictured here is M&S’s Colin the Caterpillar cake. In a statement, M&S said: “Love and care goes into every product on our shelves. BrewDog’s boss said at the time it would launch a new beer called Yaldi and claimed Tesco was interested in stocking it. On Thursday, Marks & Spencer said it had begun legal action against Aldi to “protect” Colin from the discount grocer’s rival chocolate sponge roll Cuthbert which, for a smaller fee, has been masquerading as Colin at birthday parties and on picnics. M&S argues the similarities mean consumers think they are of the same standard, enabling its cheaper rival – Cuthbert costs £5 while Colin is £7 – to “ride on the coat-tails” of the company’s reputation for high-quality food. Retailer argues that the German supermarket's Cuthbert the Caterpillar product infringes its trademark. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia " Colin the Caterpillar " is a chocolate roll cake sold by British store Marks & Spencer. Large versions of Connie and Colin … The sponge cake is filled with milk chocolate and buttercream, and topped with chocolate, sweets and a smiling white chocolate face. Cuthbert is £4.99 or 80p per 100g and also has a log-shaped chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate shell. The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. The retailer created a Colin product for the annual World's Biggest Coffee Morning fundraising event. 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