Toblerone Owner Takes a Vegan Chocolatier to Court
Mondelez has filed a high court claim over the shape of the O'bar made by Catherine's Originals, a small Sussex firm that says it will defend itself.
The owner of Toblerone is taking legal action against a tiny British vegan chocolate brand. Mondelēz says Catherine's Originals has been copying the Swiss bar's famous chunky shape, and it has filed papers at the high court in London.
The papers accuse the company of "passing off" and trademark infringement over its O'bar. The bar is a length of chocolate divided into segments, each with a rounded semi-oval hump. Catherine's Originals denies the claims.
The 200g bars cost £9.20 in milk or plain, and up to £10.55 in flavours such as pumpkin spice or cinnamon swirl. A standard milk chocolate Toblerone sells for £2.50.
A small business, a large opponent
Catherine Dodd founded the company in 2021 while still a teenager. It makes chocolate in Walberton, Sussex, and sells at markets, online and by subscription. Dodd said the shape of her bars reflects an O for Originals. "We stand firmly behind the product and identity we've created," she said.
"We strongly disagree with the claim concerning O'bar and are working with our legal team to defend our position," she added. "Honestly, it's fairly frightening for a small business we've put so much care and hard work into building. But being a smaller business does not mean being afraid to stand up for what we've created."
The brand's legal adviser, Stephen Lowry of Brandsmiths, said the client considers the O'bar to have its own distinctive design and identity.
Mondelēz, which also owns Cadbury and Côte d'Or, called the Toblerone shape "one of the most recognised and distinctive product designs in the UK and across the world", a hallmark of the brand since 1929. It said it tried for several months to settle the matter directly with Catherine's Originals but could not reach an agreement.
In 2017 Mondelēz sent a legal warning that made Poundland delay the launch of its Twin Peaks bar, which had two humps rather than Toblerone's single peaks. The bar relaunched after Poundland changed the packaging colour and the bar's shape, and it is still on sale. Toblerone itself changed its packaging in 2023 to drop the Matterhorn image, after some production moved outside Switzerland.
Source: The Guardian