After a long process, the Federal Court of Justice has come to a verdict: The golden color of the Lindt chocolate bunny enjoys trademark protection.
The legal battle is not over yet.
Karlsruhe - The golden hue of Lindt's famous chocolate Easter bunny enjoys trademark protection.
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe decided on Thursday.
The Swiss manufacturer has proven that far more than the required 50 percent of potential buyers associate the gold with Lindt.
The color has thus established itself as a so-called usage mark.
According to this judgment, the fact that Lindt does not use gold as the corporate color for all of its products does not play a role - not even that the rabbit can be recognized by other characteristic features such as the red collar with bells.
(Az. I ZR 139/20)
Goldhase: litigation continues
However, it has not yet been decided that the sued competitor, the Swabian Confiserie Heilemann, may not also sell a chocolate bunny wrapped in gold foil.
Heilemann from Woringen im Allgäu is now part of the Thuringian Viba Group.
The case goes back to the Munich Higher Regional Court.
There it must now be checked whether Heilemann actually infringes the Lindt trademark, for example because there is a risk of confusion between the two rabbits.
(dpa)
