Lidl has won its court case against Tesco with the High Court ruling that the supermarket's "Clubcard Prices" logo was copied from the discounter.
The budget supermarket sued Tesco in December 2020 after the chain started using a yellow circle against a blue background to promote its "Clubcard Prices" discount scheme.
Lidl said the logo was "similar" to its own "distinctive and recognisable" logo which has a yellow circle with a blue background.
The supermarket said Tesco was "deliberately" riding on its reputation as a discounter by using the background to the Lidl logo to promote its Clubcard price cuts.
Lidl also claimed Tesco was misleading customers into thinking "Tesco was ‘price matching’ against Lidl" like the chain does with its Aldi Price Match campaign.
Lidl claimed it asked Tesco to stop using the Clubcard logo but said they refused.
In the ruling released today, High Court Judge Justice Joanna Smith said Tesco had "taken unfair advantage of the distinctive reputation" for low prices held by Lidl's trademark.
She noted the use of the Clubcard logo was to cause a “subtle but insidious transfer of image from the [Lidl logo] to the [Clubcard logo] in the minds of some consumers."
Although, Justice Smith did reject Lidl's argument that Tesco had done so deliberately.
In a statement about the ruling, Lidl said it was "pleased" that the court agreed with its case against Tesco.
A Lidl GB spokesperson said: "Having seen the evidence, the Court has now ruled that Tesco’s Clubcard logo was copied from Lidl’s logo, and it infringes Lidl’s trade mark rights and copyright.
"This infringement allowed Tesco to take unfair advantage of our longstanding reputation for great value, misleading their customers at a time when they should have been supporting them."
As a result of the decision, the judge will now order an injunction against Tesco, requiring it to stop using the Clubcard logo.
However, Tesco has told The Mirror it intends to appeal the decision.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We are surprised and disappointed by the decision today in relation to the claim brought by Lidl against our Clubcard Prices logo.
"Clubcard Prices has always been about offering great value to our Clubcard customers, across thousands of products, as part of our commitment to keeping the cost of the weekly shop as affordable as possible. Nothing in today's decision changes that.
“This claim brought by Lidl was just about the colour and shape of the Clubcard Prices logo. The judge’s ruling concluded that there was no deliberate intent on Tesco’s part to copy Lidl’s trademark.
"It has no impact on our Clubcard Prices scheme which we will continue to run in exactly the same way. We intend to appeal.”
