Haribo Loses To Lindt In Gold Bear Copyright Suit

It would be a very unperceptive person who could confuse a large chocolate bear wrapped in foil for a yellow-colored gummy bear, so a judge has ruled in favor of Lindt Chocolate in a long-running legal case brought against the chocolate company by Haribo, the gummy bear makers.

According to The Local, Haribo maintained that the bear-shaped chocolate wrapped in gold foil Lindt marketed at Christmas infringed on its copyright for "gold bear" jellies. The Lindt chocolate bear is clearly labeled with the Lindt logo and the word "chocolate," but Haribo asserted that the fact that the chocolate was bear-shaped and wrapped in gold foil made it a "three-dimensional representation of the words 'gold bear'."

A Cologne judge disagreed.

"The court rejected Haribo's lawsuit. It could not find any resemblance between the written trademarks 'gold bear' and the Lindt Teddy," a court spokeswoman said.

The court said there was no real resemblance between the chocolate bear and the yellow gummy bears, and also pointed out that the chocolate bear is much closer to Lindt's signature "gold bunny," which is a gold-wrapped chocolate bunny that comes out at Easter.

Haribo still has the option of pursuing the case in the Federal Court of Justice, The Local reports.