In Germany, the shape of chocolate is very important. The country’s Supreme Court resolved a ten-year legal battle over the right to sell square chocolate bars on Thursday.
The dispute put Ritter Sport, one of Germany’s largest chocolate producers, in competition with rival Milka of Switzerland.
Ritter claims to have registered a trademark for its unique square chocolate bar and has exclusive rights to the shape.
Milka argues that this shape is too general for trademarks and provides an unfair competitive advantage to its competitors.
The case dragged on for so long that it was called the “Chocolate War” by the German media. But the final ruling was made on Thursday: the court upheld Ritter’s exclusive use of squares.
The company claims that its co-founder Clara Ritter first proposed the idea of ​​a square chocolate bar in 1932.
She is said to have told her colleagues: “Let’s make a chocolate bar that fits in your jacket pocket. It won’t break and weighs the same as a rectangular bar.”
The company has been selling chocolates in unique shapes for a long time, with the slogan: “square, practical, high-quality”.
Although Milka was founded in Switzerland and only uses alpine milk so far, today Milka produces most of the chocolate at the German border, and these two brands are ubiquitous on the shelves of German supermarkets.
Ritter registered its square trademark in the 1990s, but Milka argued that it violated the regulations for the shape or design of trademarks that confer “essential value”.
The two companies have been suing the Federal Court of Appeal of Germany.
The judge ruled that the square would not bring any other quality or value to the chocolate bar.
They found that consumers only see the square as a type of chocolate, indicating that the chocolate comes from a brand they know-in fact, chocolate equals packaging.
Ritter Sport said in a statement: “Today is an important day for us.” “For 50 years, we have been the only chocolate maker focusing on squares. That’s why this decision is so important to us, because The square is vital to the Ritter Sport brand.”
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