Lidl wins logo dispute against Tesco

Tesco has been ordered to stop using its Clubcard logo by the High Court after it deemed that the logo had been copied from Lidl’s own blue and yellow logo.

Following its launch in September 2020 Lidl said it was “concerned” that some customers would see the Clubcard logo and “mistakenly think that Tesco was able to offer the same value as Lidl or that Tesco was actually ‘price matching’ against Lidl”.

As such, Lidl brought a court action against Tesco in December 2020, based on its trade mark rights, passing off and copyright in its logo, asking the Court to order Tesco to stop using the Clubcard logo.

Today (19 April 2023), the High Court Judge Joanna Smith decided the case in Lidl’s favour, finding that Tesco’s use of its Clubcard logo did indeed infringe Lidl’s trade mark rights in the Lidl logo by “taking unfair advantage of it” and Tesco was passing off its Clubcard prices by “deceiving a substantial number of consumers into believing that Tesco’s prices represented the same value as Lidl’s prices when that was not the case”.

However, Judge Smith rejected claims that Tesco had “the deliberate subjective intention of riding on Lidl’s coat tails”.

A Lidl GB spokesperson said: “Over the last three years, Tesco has been using its Clubcard logo to deceive many customers into believing that Tesco was price matching against Lidl or was able to offer the same great value as us. We asked Tesco to change their Clubcard logo, but they refused, making it necessary to bring this case.”

A Tesco Spokesperson told Sky News: “We are surprised and disappointed by the decision today in relation to the claim brought by Lidl against our Clubcard Prices logo.”

It also told the outlet it plans to appeal the decision.