Nestlé loses Kitkat trademark battle

British Court of Appeal rules that Kitkat’s format cannot be trademarked as it has “no inherent distinctiveness”.

After intense court proceedings to get the four finger shape of their chocolate bar Kitkat protected by trademark law, the court found that the format was no “badge of origin”. In late 2015, the European Court of Justice also rejected Nestlé’s attempt to trademark their product.

The verdict comes after a seven year long battle against rival chocolate giant Cadbury. Although Nestlé has just lost the latest round of the trademark saga, the multinational company is already planning their next step to appeal the verdict.

Recently, Cadbury failed to trademark the shade of purple they use after receiving objections from Nestlé.

And so, the ‘Chocolate War’ continues.