Forget about North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, foreclosures, … It is the chocolate bunny’s turn in the EU’s court of justice. A rule was handed there today at the request of Swiss chocolate maker Lindt on whether a chocolate bunny can be trademarked. It seems that the EU has clear rules for trademarked words and logos but it is unclear about the status of shapes such as the chocolate bunny. The matter came before the European court after a long battle between Switzerland’s Lindt & Sprungli and fellow chocolate maker Hauswirth of Austria. Both companies make golden-wrapped chocolate bunnies with a ribbon around their neck but only Lindt holds a trademark which it claims bars rivals from burrowing in on its territory. Hauswirth is disputing the validity of Lindt’s trademark, claiming that chocolate bunnies have been produced and wrapped in gold foil for many decades.
Finally, in a ruling handed down this morning, the court of justice said that such a trademark could indeed have been granted “in bad faith” if the applicant knew that identical or similar products already existed in other parts of the European Union. The issue will now go back to Austria’s national court. If Hauswirth loses, it might have to change the design of its bunny or stop selling them. If Lindt loses it could be the beginning of many other companies trying to produce similar bunnies.
So in these days of crisis in many ways, a bunny is holding our breath as nobody wants it to disappear!
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