AIPPI 2016: Ferrero prefers 3D trademarks to designs

Ferrero, which owns brands including Nutella, Kinder, Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tac, has a “vast” number of 3D trademarks protecting its products and prefers them to registered designs, according to its IP director.

Speaking today, September 18, at the 2016 AIPPI World Congress in Milan, Daniele Lingua said 3D trademarks “are there to last”.

He cited the 3D mark for Tic Tac in the US, warning that anyone who gets close to that shape “will hear from us” and noting that the mint product is the company’s best-selling brand in the US.

While Ferrero does own designs, he added, they are used most effectively on packaging as far as food concerned.

The panel Lingua was sitting on was discussing IP issues in the food industry, and also included representatives from Nestlé and coffee producer Lavazza.

Lingua added that it’s hard to be inventive in the fast-moving consumer goods industry and that you “can’t be fancy with your IP”.

Near the end of the session, Cornelis Schüller, group head of patents at Nestlé, provided a brief overview of patenting in the food and beverage industry.

After joking that Lavazza and Ferrero are two of Nestlé’s biggest competitors “so it’s unfair competition that they left me with five minutes” [to speak], he noted there has been a “massive” increase in patenting activity over the past few years, but that it’s not so great when China’s applications are removed.

Nestlé files around 300 patents in this area every year and, as one example, had 130 granted in the US in 2014.

Discussing some of the stages of innovation in the food industry, Schüller noted that food supply is typically the first priority, companies then add ingredients to prolong shelf life, they later look at taste and aroma, which are important for consumers, before addressing health and disease prevention.

The 2016 AIPPI World Congress runs until September 20.