Swiss food and beverage company Nestle has reportedly failed to convince the courts of its right to trademark the chocolate-covered wafer KitKat. This paves the way for rival Cadbury to come up with similar chocolate bars.
A Bloomberg journalist reported the news of Nestle's appeal being dismissed by a London court on 20 January.
Justice Arnold J, who heard the case in which Cadbury was the respondent, said in his judgment: "There was likely to have been a number of similar-shaped products produced by other undertakings on the market in the years leading up to the relevant date."
The case was earlier dismissed by the European Court of Justice, which ruled that the the shape of the KitKat chocolate-covered wafer was "not distinctive", The Guardian had reported in September last year. The dispute was later taken to the UK High Court by Nestle for a final ruling.
Cadbury had first tried to scuttle Nestlé's attempt to trademark KitKat in 2010. Later, in 2013, the UK Trade Marks Registry rejected Nestlé's application to protect the chocolate bar in the UK, the Guardian report added.
#BREAKING chocolate news: Nestle fails in its attempt to trademark the four-finger shape of a Kit-Kat. Cadbury now free to make a rival bar.
— Patrick Gower (@PatrickGower) January 20, 2016
Cadbury had first tried to scuttle Nestlé's attempt to trademark KitKat in 2010. Later, in 2013, the UK Trade Marks Registry rejected Nestlé's application to protect the chocolate bar in the UK, the Guardian report added.
Arnold J judgment in Kit Kat on acquired distinctiveness: Nestlé appeal dismissed. #trademarkpic.twitter.com/F3QvThEDGc
— Managing IP (@ManagingIP) January 20, 2016
