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Nespresso has successfully defended a claim by a coffee cup supplier that it copied one of its designs.
French tableware company Silodesign had received an order to supply the Swiss coffee capsule company with stay-cool, double-wall glass cups, but was unable to fulfill the order owing to a production problem.
Silodesign sued Nespresso for trademark infringement and unfair competition after the coffee giant later came up with a similar range of glass coffee and espresso cups called Citiz. Silodesign claimed that the only difference between its product and Nespresso’s was that Nespresso had applied its own logo.
However, a Paris court has now ruled that Citiz does not infringe the Silodesign product, saying that there are enough obvious differences between the two.
“The incriminated glasses or cups don’t give an impression that’s on the whole identical to the claimant models,” Judge Veronique Renard decided.
Nespresso had countersued Silodesign for bringing an abusive lawsuit. However, the court agreed that Silodesign’s design was protected and the countersuit was dismissed.
