Advertisement

‘This isn’t just any court case’: Aldi mocks M&S as Colin the Caterpillar cake war rages on

<p>Birthday favourite: Colin the Caterpillar cake</p> (PA)

Birthday favourite: Colin the Caterpillar cake

(PA)

Aldi has hit back at Marks & Spencer as the war of the caterpillar cakes rages on.

M&S started legal action against Aldi in an effort to protect its famous Colin the Caterpillar cake claiming Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar product infringes its trademark.

They want Aldi to remove the product from sale and agree not to sell anything similar in the future.

But Aldi has so far refused to back down even mocking M&S’s famous slogan on its social media accounts. On Facebook the supermarket wrote: “This is not just any court case, this is...#FreeCuthbert

They later added: “Just Colin our lawyers. #FreeCuthbert

Twitter users were aghast even mocking up true-crime documentary posters of what surely would be the trial of the century.

M&S lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court this week, arguing the similarity of Aldi’s product leads consumers to believe they are of the same standard and “ride on the coat-tails” of M&S’s reputation with the product.

M&S launched Colin the Caterpillar around 30 years ago and his 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.

The cake is a sponge with milk chocolate and buttercream, topped with chocolate sweets and a smiling white chocolate face.

M&S has three trademarks relating to Colin, which the retailer believes means Colin has acquired and retains an enhanced distinctive character and reputation.

A spokesman said: “Because we know the M&S brand is special to our customers and they expect only the very best from us, love and care goes into every M&S product on our shelves.

“We want to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value.”

It is understood Aldi’s cake is a seasonal product and has not been on sale since February.

The M&S original has spawned a range of imitators since its launch, such as Sainsbury’s Wiggles, Tesco’s Curly, Morris by Morrisons, the Co-op’s Charlie, Cecil by Waitrose and Asda’s Clyde.

Read More

M&S sues Aldi over alleged Colin the Caterpillar lookalike

Tesco profits dive 20% despite surging grocery sales during pandemic

‘Red list’ countries ‘under constant review’ amid variant concerns

TikTok and the virtual test drive: is this the future of car buying?