Colin the copyright caterpillar
M&S goes to war over Aldi’s cake
IT will be goodbye, crawl world for Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake if Marks & Spencer’s Colin the Caterpillar triumphs in a court battle over trademarks.
M&S claims the cut-price chain’s chocolate log cake “rides on the coattails” of 30-something Colin.
It has now lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court, arguing the similarity leads Aldi customers to believe the cakes are of the same standard.
Marks is demanding Cuthbert is taken off sale and Aldi agree not to sell anything similar in future.
But critics point out that Cuthbert hasn’t been sold for months – and other supermarkets also have similar versions on their shelves.
M&S, which has created a huge range off the back of Colin’s popularity – including girlfriend Connie the Caterpillar and Halloween and Christmas versions – sells the original for £7. Fans can also now buy Colin’s face as a bag of sweets.
Aldi’s Cuthbert cake is the cheapest alternative at £4.99 while Asda’s Clyde the Caterpillar costs £5.92.
Tesco’s Curly the Caterpillar, Morrison’s Morris the Caterpillar and Sainsbury’s Wiggles the Caterpillar are all £6. Co-op’s Curious Caterpillar Cake is £7.
M&S singles out Aldi in its copyright infringement action.
Colin and Connie are central to M&S’s partnership with Macmillan, too, and the retailer sells a Colin product for the cancer charity’s annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning fundraising event. M&S’s caterpillar cakes are sponge, milk chocolate and buttercream, topped with chocolate sweets and a smiling white chocolate face. It has three trademarks relating to Colin – and argues he 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. So we want to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value.”
But one critic tweeted: “If M&S is taking legal action against Aldi will it have to go against the rest too?” Aldi declined to comment.