On 27 May, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that the Yoplait bottle for Dizzy – a milk-based fizzy drink, and the company’s first in the soft drinks category – which was launched in France and across Europe last October, too closely resembled that of coffee-flavoured Coca-Cola Blak.
The Court also prohibited the use of advertising media and promotional material relating to Yoplait Dizzy in its current packaging.
Both products are presented in ‘waisted’ alu-bottles and, as the picture shows, Dizzy is brightly coloured, while Blak is, as you might expect, coffee coloured.
Law firm Bird & Bird’s Paris office took the case to the Court of Appeal after the Court of First Instance initially ruled out the resemblance between the bottles. The Court of Appeal, however, upheld Coca-Cola’s complaint, ruling that the “deliberate taking-over, without there being any technical need, of the combination of characteristics of the Coca-Cola bottle at issue makes interference in the rights of the latter at the least likely”.
Isabelle Leroux, the intellectual property partner at Bird & Bird who represented Coca-Cola in the case, said: “The Coca-Cola bottle is a worldwide symbol of the brand, and we’re pleased the Court has recognised the genuine risk of infringement with the Dizzy product.”
Source: The Coca-Cola Company
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