M&S is suing Aldi for copying Colin the Caterpillar and it's being called the 'trial of the century'
Hold on to your hats, because the "trial of the century" has kicked off and is already packed full of drama, tension, twists and turns, and, err, caterpillar cakes. It's more scandalous than it's... Rebekah Vardy vs Coleen Rooney. It's set to triumph over Trump's impeachment cases (both of them!). It'll no doubt dominate over Dominic Cummings' COVID sight test debacle... It is: Colin v Cuthbert.
If you were born any time after 1990, then you will know just how much of an essential staple the Colin the Caterpillar birthday cake from Marks and Spencer is. Are you even a human if you haven't demanded to be able to eat the face of a caterpillar to celebrate your entrance into this cruel world? Exactly. So we all know just how big a deal our man Col is.
As does, it would appear, cheap as chips supermarket Aldi, who have found themselves in a bit of a legal entanglement with M&S over the insect-inspired tasty treat. It's reported that M&S have launched an intellectual property claim with the High Court in order to 'protect' Colin from being imitated, by the likes of Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which M&S say infringes its trademark.
The retailer is also arguing that the similarities between Colin and Cuthbert are leading consumers to believe that they are of the same standard, something that M&S is hotly contesting. Ooh, the shade of it all! Not only calling Aldi copycats but poor ones at that! Living for this. 💅
M&S is also alleging that Aldi’s similarities “ride on the coat-tails” of M&S’s long-term reputation of the Colin the Caterpillar product, that they've established over the past thirty years of Colin-ness.
Naturally, the case has already been deemed the "trial of the century" by impassioned social media users, who are watching as the drama unfolds.
M&S is suing Aldi coz they ripped off Colin the Caterpillar. This is the trial of the century.
— Sooz Kempner (@SoozUK) April 15, 2021
Another pointed out that Aldi aren't the only supermarket who have a caterpillar cake option either:
I saw people wondering why @marksandspencer are going after Cuthbert & not the other cakes, so I made a caterpillar collage to spot the differences. pic.twitter.com/Pvnac1if57
— PrimaryCoHead (@PrimaryCoHead) April 15, 2021
An M&S spokesperson said: "Because we know the M&S brand is special to our customers and they expect only the very best from us, love and care goes into every M&S product on our shelves."
They continued, "So we want to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value."
In response, Aldi shared a light-hearted tweet playing on M&S classic slogan of "This isn't just any XYZ, it's an M&S XYZ", by writing, ""This is not just any court case, this is... #FreeCuthbert."
We'll be keeping a *very* close eye on this case and of course, will keep you all informed as to how the trial plays out.
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