Swedish Court Rules Against M&Ms In Candy Copyright Case

A Swedish court of appeals handed down a ruling in a years-long copyright lawsuit last week, and as a result that country might be losing its access to M&Ms candies.

According to The Local, Mars, the company that makes M&Ms, has been fighting a Swedish candy company called Mondelez for several years over the ability to sell M-marked candies in Sweden. Mondelez has its own line of M candies called the Marabou M.

Back in the 1950s, Mondelez and Mars reportedly worked together for the production of M-branded candy in Sweden, but that partnership dissolved and Mars sold no M&Ms in Sweden from 1989 to 2009. Now, however, Mars does sell its famous M&Ms in Sweden.

Mondelez was not happy with M&Ms showing up to compete with its Marabou Ms, and in 2011 filed a lawsuit against Mars for infringing on its trademark by selling M-marked candies in its territory. Now, after a years-long court case, a judge has ruled in favor of Mondelez and its Marabou M candies. As a result of the ruling, Mars has been forbidden from selling M-branded candies in Sweden.