Companies like Nestle and Cadbury have also been involved in court disputes , owing to the unique shape of the popular Kit-Kat chocolates.
It is imperative for businesses dealing in confectionary items to have protection of their products' shapes, sizes, packaging, logos
, colors and even sounds. Not all candy dreams turn sweet, for imitation of certain shapes may result in swallowing a bitter pill at times !

 

intellectual property in case of confectionary items

Lindt is a luxury swiss chocolate and confectionary company. Recently it was in news, as it lost a battle in court on account of one of its confectionary items in the form of a shape of a golden bunny. The trial had lasted for 12 years, ultimately with lindt losing out to its competitor Riegelein.. Last year  a Court in Cologne prohibited the sale of chocolate golden bears, following a request by Haribo, owner of a series of registered trademarks for bears, including the word mark "Goldbären" (Golden Bear) as reported in the website of Intellectual Property Planet (http://intellectualpropertyplanet.blogspot.in/2013/04/lindt-lindt-lost-lawsuit-for-golden.html ).


Confectionary items  are very soft items. A lot of effort goes in researching a product design, its popularity in terms of its audience i.e. its target group, and the reactions obtained from consumers when the product hits the stores. Once a design has been approved, it must pass stringent tests before being accepted as a trademark, i.e. it must be unique than others. The Millenium Bug confectionary case is a well known case in this regard.

hello, my blog is my voice to the outer world. being a law student i wish to look at events with legal lenses.; at the same time i would comment on the happennings of my life as well :)