Mondelēz takes vegan chocolate maker to court over O’bar design
Toblerone owner Mondelēz has sued British vegan chocolate maker Catherine’s Originals in London’s High Court, alleging that its O’bar copies Toblerone’s distinctive shape and infringes its trademarks. The case matters because it tests how far a company can protect a well-known product design when a smaller rival says its own design has a separate identity.
Catherine Dodd, who founded the Sussex business in 2021, says the rounded segments reflect the “O” in Originals and that the company will defend its position. Its 200g bars cost £9.20 to £10.55, compared with £2.50 for a standard milk Toblerone. Mondelēz says it tried to resolve the dispute over several months; in 2017 it also challenged Poundland’s Twin Peaks bar, which returned to sale after changes to its packaging and shape.
In short
- Mondelēz is suing Catherine’s Originals over the O’bar’s shape.
- The vegan chocolatier says its design has its own identity.
- The case follows an earlier Toblerone dispute with Poundland.
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The case for
Mondelēz can argue that Toblerone’s recognisable shape is part of its brand identity, built through long investment, and that protecting it helps prevent shoppers from mistaking a competing product for an associated one. It says it tried to resolve the dispute over several months, and its earlier case against Twin Peaks ended with changes to that product’s packaging and shape.
The case against
Catherine’s Originals can argue that O’bar’s rounded segments express its own name and design concept, rather than imitate Toblerone, and that consumers can distinguish the products. Protecting a famous design too broadly could make it harder for smaller makers to create distinctive products in a category where shapes may naturally resemble one another.
Explained simply
Toblerone is a chocolate brand owned by Mondelēz, a large food company. Its bars are known for their triangular shape, made up of pointed sections. Catherine’s Originals is a British vegan chocolate business founded by Catherine Dodd in 2021.
Companies can register trade marks to protect signs that help people recognise their products, and disputes can arise over whether another product is too similar. The case concerns how far that protection extends to a product’s shape, and how a smaller maker’s own explanation for its design is considered.
Mondelēz has previously challenged another chocolate bar, Poundland’s Twin Peaks, which returned to sale after changes to its packaging and shape. The outcome could help clarify how businesses can protect recognisable product designs while allowing rivals to create products with a separate identity.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Toblerone owner sues British vegan chocolate brand over chunky shape”.