Tesco has lost a Court of Appeal bid to overturn a decision which ruled that it had copied Lidl’s yellow circle logo in its Clubcard branding.
Lidl accused Tesco of trying to “deliberately to ride on the coattails of Lidl’s reputation” with the branding of its Clubcard scheme.
The High Court ruled in favour of Lidl last year, with Tesco taking a challenge to the Court of Appeal in February.
But in a ruling on Tuesday, Lord Justice Arnold dismissed the UK’s largest supermarket chain’s bid to overturn the claims of trademark infringement and “passing off”.
Tesco is not expected to attempt to appeal against Tuesday’s ruling and is understood to be updating its Clubcard prices logo in the coming weeks.
However, Lord Justice Arnold overturned the previous finding of copyright infringement against Tesco.
He said: “Any painter will confirm that placing one colour against another changes the viewer’s perception of both. So too does placing one shape within another… Although Tesco have copied the visual concept of a blue square surrounding, among other material, a yellow circle, that is all they have done.”
A Lidl spokesman said: “Last year, The High Court ruled that Tesco’s Clubcard logo was copied from ours and infringed our trademark rights, allowing them to unfairly benefit from our longstanding reputation for value while misleading its customers.”
The spokesperson continued: “We are delighted to see that the Court of Appeal has now agreed with the High Court that Tesco’s use of its Clubcard logo is unlawful.
“We expect Tesco now to respect the court’s decision and change its Clubcard logo to one that is not designed to look like ours.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “Our customers always tell us just how important Clubcard Prices are to giving them great value – and it’s been a key reason why we’re consistently the cheapest full-line grocer.
“We are disappointed with the judgment relating to the colour and shape of the Clubcard Prices logo but would like to reassure customers that it will in no way impact our Clubcard Prices programme.
“Clubcard Prices, irrespective of its logo, will continue to play a central role in rewarding our Clubcard members with thousands of deals every week.”
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