Twin Peaks has landed following Toblerone spat

The Trademarkroom blog reported earlier this year the spat which arose between Mondelez, the owners of Toblerone and discount retailer, Poundland.

The dispute nearly tipped over the edge as Mondelez were threatening to take infringement action against Poundland who created and planned to release their ‘Twin Peaks’ bar.

The peaks of a Toblerone bar are protected by a 3D trade mark.

The Twins Peak bar looked suspicious familiar even though Poundland were adamant that the bar was based on the outline of the Wrekin and Ercall hills in Shropshire.

Before the dispute reached full blown court proceedings, the two parties reached a settlement agreement.

Toblerone agreed to allow Poundland to sell the Twin Peaks bars during December as they were already in production so as long as they were packaged in a way which would not be confusing to Toblerone’s packaging and Poundland would relaunch the product in the new year with a different shape.

Those in the IP world were waiting for the release to see just how similar the bars were.

The Twin Peaks bars have been launched and it seems that Poundland were keen to stick to their end of the bargain.

The Twin Peak bars were displayed nowhere near Toblerone and the Poundland bar was packaged in a turquoise colour, clearly different to Toblerone’s mustard yellow.

Poundland are marketing the current shape bar as a collector’s item, highlighting that from January the bar will be modified in shape to reflect the Wrekin and Ercall hills better.

The Trademarkroom team will be keen to see the new shape on its release in the New Year and will report if the dispute rears its head once again.

For more information on how trade marks can benefit your business, contact The Trademarkroom team today.

By Ellis Sweetenham