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?

Why is no one talking about how awful his face is.

He's seen something truly traumatic. Is it to scare children out of eating cake?

M&S will have been corresponding with Aldi on this for ages - that's why it's taken two years to get to court. They'll have tried to resolve it out of court.

Also, I'm willing to bet some of the other supermarkets with similar products which are not such close copies use the same producers. There will be clauses in contracts about not using identical recipes or decoration for any other customer and those producers will not want to fall foul of M&S and lose their business.

Cant say I've ever payed that much attention because I'm GF.

But a quick google tells me they now do GF versions.

I think I may need to purchase Colin or Freida - I doubt Aldi have gone as far as a GF version!

Which one is it that Asda do 😂? We got one for DD's Birthday and weren't all that impressed. Tasted very 'fake' for want of a better word, the chocolate wasn't nice and the cake was bland.

@JustSleepAlready

How can m and a copyright a cake made at home for a million kids birthday parties in the 80’s?? Everywhere sells their own version of them. It’s complete snobbery on behalf of m and s. Everyone else can sell them but YOU can’t. What a waste of time.

I agree. People have been making caterpillar cakes for years. Aldi seem to be loving it. There’s a save Cuthbert campaign (or something like that) in their adverts!

I’ve never understood the fuss over Colin cakes, I’ve had to try a few in my time and they’re always so dry! Are any of the Colin copies any better?

I prefer ganache on my cake rather than solid chocolate so they aren't me favourite type of cake

@ViceVersa

Well it’s good marketing for Aldi. I’ve shopped there for at least 10 years and didn’t even realise they sold birthday cakes. I shall have a look for Cuthbert next time as DD would love it!

They sell a chocolate birthday cake for 3 quid. Its nice!

My understanding is m&s have stated they are suing Aldi and not the others due to the quality of the Aldi version. They say it’s much lower and will damage their brand as due to the close copy people will think theirs is that low quality too and damage the brand, that because it looks the same people will think it is the same and it’s very low quality in comparison.

Cuthbert is very similar to Colin, but it's taken M&S a while to realise, I'm sure we bought a Cuthbert almost a year ago.

@Stellaris22

No problem *@babbi*

I'm glad someone else knew about how brilliant the BrewDog/Aldi collaboration is.

I was going to mention this...I'm late to the party! 😂

@sparklingbrook I saw these cake jars in M&S today they are new I think and did look bloody delicious! The infamous Colin was missing.

At £4 a go I did resist the temptation.

@Bluntness100

My understanding is m&s have stated they are suing Aldi and not the others due to the quality of the Aldi version. They say it’s much lower and will damage their brand as due to the close copy people will think theirs is that low quality too and damage the brand, that because it looks the same people will think it is the same and it’s very low quality in comparison.

And that is entirely plausible. Doesn't mean there aren't other things in play.

@GoryGilmore
I’ve never understood the fuss over Colin cakes, I’ve had to try a few in my time and they’re always so dry! Are any of the Colin copies any better?

I bought the Christmas one it was disgusting and I actually threw it away. The children weren't keen either.

@oopsydaisyyy

can someone do a side by side comparison pic plz

I was just thinking the same thing.

Bloody M&S lording it about - they don’t own the caterpillar cake - it’s a stalwart of 80s kid’s birthday parties!

Come on Aldi and take them on. If you lose then you can always copy summat else

Peter pigs anyone??

Perhaps if the lawsuit is successful aldi could have cuthbert become a butterfly cake?

I only remember all this collin nostalgia starting a few years ago. I don’t really remember any Collins from my youth. I come from a version of the 1980s where birthday cakes were homemade. I was surprised when I realised he was an m and s thing.

@Allmyarseandpeggymartin

Bloody M&S lording it about - they don’t own the caterpillar cake - it’s a stalwart of 80s kid’s birthday parties!

Come on Aldi and take them on. If you lose then you can always copy summat else

Peter pigs anyone??

They do own the trademark Colin the Caterpillar.

M&S have been making them since 1990 so even though homemade versions were popular through the 80s, they do own the trademark for Colin. This is quite an entertaining history
www.newstatesman.com/culture/food-drink/2018/12/colin-caterpillar-brief-history

@Star555 So glad you started this thread as I was going to say the same thing. The cakes are virtually the same in every supermarket. However, I think Aldi's marketing genius is going to win them more favour. It seems bizarre why Aldi is being targeted as most people can't tell any of them apart.

@GrimDamnFanjo

Aldi do this all the time. They must think an uptick in sales is worth it for any legal bother.

Yes a lot of their products are ripoff, and blatantly so. Not sure how they get away with it with some of their make up. I don't think M&S would bother unless they thought they had a strong case, I suppose they are more bothered as they have a whole collection of Colin foods as well as the cake. It looks exactly the same, and aldi are making a joke of it on twitter. I know there's more important things in the world, but I hate it when people rip off other people's ideas in the same of competition, sad.

Name of competiton*

I don't think other supermarket ones look as similar in the face as aldis does.

The box is very similar too.