Nestlé gets no break in South African Kit Kat trademark row

02-Dec-2013 - Last updated on 02-Dec-2013 at 16:12 GMT

Consumers won't mistake Kit Kat for Iffco's Tiffany Break, rules South African judge

Related tags Trademark

A High court in Pretoria has ruled that Iffco’s Tiffany Break does not infringe Nestlé South Africa’s trademark on the Kit Kat shape.

Nestlé had alleged that United Arab Emirate’s firm Iffco was passing off products that infringed Nestlé’s trademarks on the 2-finger and 4-finger wafer.

However, its allegations were rejected by a judge last week.

No violation Tiffany Break , judge rules

“The get-ups of the applicants and of the respondents are so different that no customer will, in my view, think that the respondents’ products emanate from Nestlé or that there is an association between the respondents’ products and Nestlé,” said Judge J W Louw.

Iffco sells chocolate products under the Break brand in South Africa, including Quanta Break and Tiffany Break in retailers such as Shoprite-Checkers.

Ravi Pillay, spokesperson for Nestlé South Africa told ConfectioneryNews: “Nestlé South Africa is aware of the court’s judgement regarding the Kit Kat case. We are unable to comment further at this stage as our legal team is currently reviewing the ruling.”

Tiffany Break 4 finger — UAE firm Iffco's Tiffany Break

Nestlé throws shapes

Nestlé is currently engaged in another trademark dispute with Petra Foods in Singapore, alleging that Petra's ‘Take It’ brand infringes Nestlé's Singaporean trademark on the Kit Kat four-finger and two-finger shapes . Petra denies the claims.

In July, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) rejected Nestlé’s application to trademark the four-finger Kit-Kat shape after opposition from Mondelez International-owned Cadbury.

The decision came in spite of an EU ruling in Nestlé’s favor last year.