Recently, Marks & Spencer initiated legal action against Aldi claiming that Aldi's Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake infringes M&S's Colin the Caterpillar trademark.
As the owner of 3 registered trademarks relating to its caterpillar cake, M&S is demanding that Aldi removes its Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake from sale.
It is important to note that the Malaysian Trademarks Act 2019 allows the registration of shapes as trademarks, including shapes of confectionary and baked goods (see below).
Bakers and makers should also be careful when selling products with cartoon/comic characters, as aside from being copyright protected, many cartoon/comic characters are registered trademarks , e.g.:-
Like Aldi, you may very well get into trouble for selling a product whose shape has been registered as a trademark by someone else. You may also be liable for copyright/trademark infringement if the product you're selling includes a copyright/trademark protected character, especially if you are doing so without a license from the right owner.
Talk to us if you're worried that someone may be copying your masterpiece or if you're worried that your products could be infringing someone else's trademark or copyright.
You may also like to read about how re-posting someone else's recipe online could land you in hot water here.