Why didn't M&S sue other stores for "copycat" caterpillar cakes?

[Star555]

www.bbc.com/news/business-56756731

M&S now suing Aldi for "Cuthbert the Caterpillar"...but why didn't they sue other stores for the their Colin the Caterpillar imitation cakes like Tesco's Curly or Sainsbury's Wiggles?

@drpet49

Aldi’s is an exact replica of Colin. Everything is the same.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. The other stores' caterpillars aren't exact replicas -- they've got their own distinguishing features like different colours, different faces etc. But Aldi's is literally a carbon copy of M&S's.

Why on earth would Aldi's be so stupid to do this though??? Surely they could have easily just changed some small features to make their Cuthbert stand out from M&S's Colin like the other stores did? I refuse to believe they didn't know they would be getting into legal trouble with an exact replica!

It's just a chocolate swiss roll with a face

I saw you could buy it in a jar now too.

Wiggles is better than Colin!

Weird

www.marieclaire.co.uk/life/food-drink/colin-the-caterpillar-cake-jars-734269

It will be an interesting case to follow, many of Aldi’s products are marketed in a way to look very similar to brand leaders, so a test case that could open up the floodgates.

Meh, Aldi will change the bit that got them sued and it's a great bit of marketing.

Makes M&S look like petty killjoys

I think they are quite right, an awful lot of aldi products are copies. Why should other companies spend on product development for aldi to come along and copy them

But no one shops in Aldi and thinks they're buying the actual brands do they? If you want the brands you go elsewhere.

With clothing (ie high street shops copying designers) there has to be a certain number of differences, I’m guessing there weren’t enough differences with the Aldi cake.

I reckon it's because Aldi absolutely take the piss with how close to the mark they go with copy cat products. I don't go in much but I'm always shocked at how much things are clearly a rip off of brands.

The other caterpillars are really unlike Colin. I’d also imagine they aren’t as tasty.

What does the Aldi one look like? I don’t shop there.

I much prefer BrewDogs way of dealing with Aldi www.aldipresscentre.co.uk/product-news/brewdogs-tongue-in-cheek-ald-ipa-hits-aldi-shelves/

I’ve never even looked at the faces of any of these caterpillars but I’m just about to google them now... I’ve ate countless caterpillar cakes from Sainsbury’s, M&S etc but never took a close look at the face per se

@bbn81

This is the Cecil the caterpillar from Waitrose. Looks pretty similar to me.

As someone who has Colin for 20 family birthdays per year since his inception, Cecil is definitely not the same. The face to body ratio is not at all the same, there's no white drizzle on Colin and his ridges are defined. Happy to help

I think we should have a taste off with them all and let the consumer decide.

@Salvationz

I’ve never even looked at the faces of any of these caterpillars but I’m just about to google them now... I’ve ate countless caterpillar cakes from Sainsbury’s, M&S etc but never took a close look at the face per se

You can get a whole bag of his faces at M&S. I ate a whole bag without looking at them.

A chain of Supermarket here in Ireland does or did an almost identical one. I got in surprised in work with one a couple of years ago. I am surprised they did not go after them.

My children picked a Cuthbert for DH’s birthday, and promptly christened him ‘the birthday slug’. I reckon it would work well if they need a whole new image for Cuthbert.

can someone do a side by side comparison pic plz

@Roselilly36

It will be an interesting case to follow, many of Aldi’s products are marketed in a way to look very similar to brand leaders, so a test case that could open up the floodgates.

I think they’ve already had to change the packaging on their Hotel range. It was identical to Jo Malone up to about a year ago, it’s moved down market now.

Its excellent marketing, Aldi will get maximum publicity over a dispute that makes M&S look precious as everyone is either copying or making at home chocolate caterpillar cakes.

#freeCuthbert is genius marketing.

@oopsydaisyyy

can someone do a side by side comparison pic plz

Here you go

This it's a marketing ploy. SO much coverage!! Also my take away thinking was "wow not as much of a cost difference as I would have expected."

I think the 3 of these all look pretty similar to me but Sainsbury's are being left well alone.

@Whatamesssss - You're not kidding!