Aldi defeated in ‘Bon Appetit’ trademark row

Supermarket Aldi has been defeated by a small UK café chain following a trademark dispute over the term Bon Appetit.

German-owned Aldi had opposed an attempt by Gloucestershire-based café Bon Appetit to trademark its name and logo at the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Aldi, which has 9,000 stores in 18 countries, claimed it has two UK trademarks that also contained the words ‘Bon Appetit’.

But, following a hearing at the IPO, comptroller-general Martin Boyle ruled that the only similarity between Aldi’s and Bon Appetit’s brands was the phrase—which was a generic term.

Aldi’s logos, one of which contained a French flag and the other, which was blue and white, were completely different to Bon Appetit’s orange and black logo, said Boyle.

“We were desperate to do something to prevent Aldi from stopping us using our brand name,” Tam Emirali, who runs the Bon Appetit business in six locations, told the Gloucester Citizen newspaper.

“With six shops now open across the South West, it would have caused us a great deal of damage, not to mention cost, to have to change our name. It’s taken years to build our business to where it is today and the threat from Aldi could have been devastating,” Emirali added.

Aldi did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Bon Appetit, the full name of which is Bon Catering Services, was assisted in the dispute by Gloucestershire-based law firm BPE Solicitors.

Matt Jackson, a solicitor in the commercial division, said: “Aldi’s Bon Appetit brands are completely different to our client’s distinctive orange and black logo.

“We explained to our client that they had a good case which revolved around the fact that the generic phrase used in all the logos could not be protected and so it was down to the actual logo design.”

Aldi was ordered to pay £500 ($781) in costs.