Tesco’s rebrand is underway, will it be completed ahead of the May deadline?

Court of Appeal confirms High Court’s rulings on trade mark violation and passing off.

With a deadline of 21 May 2024 to change its Clubcard Prices logo, Tesco seems to have removed the yellow circle and has opted for a blue square next to a yellow rectangle along with yellow squares for its rebrand. Strictly speaking, this appears to comply with the terms of the injunction, there is a question mark over whether Lidl will challenge this redesigned logo.

The high street has highlighted a habit of exploring the boundaries of other’s trade mark rights, by making products that look no more different to leading brands than they absolutely must. We’re sure Lidl’s team will not be surprised to see Tesco taking a similar approach in redesigning its Clubcard Prices logo.

The UK’s biggest supermarket was given nine weeks under the terms of an injunction to remove eight million Clubcard Prices logos from stores at a cost of about £7m, after losing a trade mark battle with Lidl in the Court of Appeal.

There is a deadline of 21st May for this to be undertaken. We have recently seen the results of a redesign, when a new Clubcard Prices logo appeared on Tesco’s app. The trademark infringing yellow circle in a blue square has been replaced with… a yellow rectangle alongside a blue square. The colours remaining allows Tesco’s branding and what resonates with customers to continue.

Tesco are hoping that they’ve done enough to avoid another costly time in court.

The question is whether Lidl argue that because Tesco have been found to have infringed previously, they may have to do more to demonstrate a change in the design of their Clubcard offers than if the infringement had not taken place.

So, it seems as though Tesco have done enough to satisfy the previous court order by taking away the yellow circle so long as they are able to roll this rebrand out throughout all their stores in time for the deadline. Time will tell whether Lidl will be looking for a new fight over whether the new rebranded Clubcard logo is also too close to their trademarked one.

I think its fair to say Lidl have on occasion sailed close to the wind itself in terms of its discounted products and trade mark infringement.

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