Chocolate Lindt&Sprüngli takes action against Aldi Suisse for Lindor imitation
Chocolate manufacturer Lindt&Sprüngli has successfully defended itself before the Commercial Court of the Canton of Aargau against Aldi Suisse for infringing the trademark rights of its Lindor balls. Aldi must stop selling its own chocolate balls for the time being.
31.12.2024, 18:03
31.12.2024, 18:04
SDA
The Commercial Court agreed with Lindt&Sprüngli's argument that the "Moser Roth" chocolate balls sold by Aldi Suisse, the subsidiary of the German discounter, were an "unnecessary imitation" of the Lindor balls, as can be seen from the court's ruling issued on December 14.
The ruling, which was published shortly before Christmas, was first reported in the "Aargauer Zeitung".
Lindt&Sprüngli achieves annual sales of CHF 44.8 million with its Lindor balls in Switzerland alone, according to the ruling. Aldi Suisse had been offering the chocolate balls sold under the "Moser Roth" brand, which, like the Lindor balls, were packaged in red and blue wrappers, as a "Christmas edition" since October 2024.
In the ruling, Lindt&Sprüngli is now given a deadline of March 13, 2025 to file a lawsuit against Aldi Suisse in the main proceedings. At the same time, however, the Aargau Commercial Court also acknowledges that its sales ban has a direct impact on Aldi's Christmas sales and therefore its profits: the Kilchberg chocolate producer must therefore also provide a security deposit of 200,000 Swiss francs.
The Swiss chocolate producer had already defended itself in court in the past due to infringements of its trademark. For example, a Munich court recently banned a manufacturer from selling chocolate bunnies in gold-colored foil because they looked too similar to Lindt's "Gold Bunny".
