I thought the whole rule of having a trademark is that you have to actively protect the trademark from infringement? Isn’t M&S’ caterpillar trademarked?
Happy cake day, I hope you’re eating a Cuthbert 
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Happy Birthday!
Yes - if you have a trade mark which is active in a specific territory, you can legally request the party using the trade mark without your permission in said territory to remove it form the public domain immediately.
Then what happens next is an argument, twitter blasts, lawyers step in, war-and-peace litigations are drawn up and Judges decide who is right and who isn’t. It costs an absolute fortune defending even the smallest genuine trade marks. Not to mention the filing costs in the first place in multiple territories.
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Thanks, unfortunately I can’t eat a Cuthbert, or a Colin due to not being able to eat cakes like normal people 
Thanks 
What I was kinda getting at, is that I think you have to contest it, otherwise you may be at risk of losing your trademark?
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You can’t lose it until it naturally expires - TM’s have a finite number of years at which they expire, but the TM owner gets advanced notice of the expiration and can renew in advance for another period as required.
For example, the ™ ‘MONZO’ in the UK expires on 03-Aug-2026 and if Monzo are still trading and want to renew, they’ll complete the renewal process prior to that date. If not, the filing will show ‘Dead’ in the Status field at the top once the date is 03-Aug-2026 or later.
The Wild West of searching for & registering Dead ™’s by competing companies!
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Asda do a milk free and gluten free version
I don’t think it’s egg free though
Other interesting trademark use - when McDonalds lost the “Big Mac” trademark back in 2019, as they hadn’t been seen to actually use the trademark appropriately:
I need to make a plant based one I’ll have to find a mold for it.
It’s just a flat Swiss roll tin
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Oh yeah of course it is, why didn’t I think of that 🤦😅
The sequel to Godzilla king of the monsters has a much lower budget then
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Is this the new Kong V Godzilla
Not really, this is:
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I’m wondering if I’ve become really out of touch, given how much support Aldi are getting on Twitter.
In my mind, this is no different to a tech company ripping off a competitor’s design. I personally don’t like the idea of a massive German supermarket coming in, ripping off pretty much every established brand’s ideas and packaging design, and subsequently being able to sell at a lower price by saving on marketing and R&D.
I think the problem is it seems a bit over the top over a Caterpillar cake, but it’s much more about the principle, and the fact Aldi do it to pretty much every product. M&S really need to up their social media game.
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It’s genius brand-bypassing. Plus they are cheaper.
So people get onboard with one, if not both, pretty quickly.
‘Wheat Bisks’
‘Nordpak’
‘Cup Shotz’
‘Quixo’
‘Nutoka’
Genius.
(Disclaimer: possibly a sample of what is in my kitchen at the mo)
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It’s cheaper because it’s theft.
While I get that all supermarkets do this to a degree, ALDI do it to the extreme, and frankly you have to be paying close attention to actually tell the difference between the original brand and the knock off.
It’s cheaper because it is a carefully calculated business plan to offer competition.
I don’t work for Aldi, but I do occassionally shop there - and get my shopping thrown at me at the checkout
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Olympic skill in itself catching all the items
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Lock Cuthbert up, I say! Plagiarism is still plagiarism, no matter how tasty thou may be!
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