Marks and Spencer Group plc (MKS.L)
| Previous close | 154.75 |
| Open | 157.50 |
| Bid | 156.15 x 0 |
| Ask | 156.20 x 0 |
| Day's range | 154.97 - 157.50 |
| 52-week range | 82.62 - 188.66 |
| Volume | 2,719,889 |
| Avg. volume | 8,070,568 |
| Market cap | 3.062B |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | 1.78 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | -8.40 |
| Earnings date | 26 May 2021 |
| Forward dividend & yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-dividend date | 14 Nov 2019 |
| 1y target est | 294.84 |
- The Guardian
Caterpillars in court as M&S sues Aldi over Colin cake ‘lookalike’
Caterpillars in court as M&S sues Aldi over Colin cake ‘lookalike’High street chain lodges intellectual property claim and demands grocer stop selling discount sponge roll Marks & Spencer launched Colin the Caterpillar, right, in 1990 but is not happy about Aldi’s Cuthbert. Composite: PA
- PA Media: Money
M&S begins legal move against Aldi over Colin the Caterpillar
M&S has launched a High Court intellectual property claim, arguing its rival’s product Cuthbert the Caterpillar, is too similar.
- The Telegraph
Colin versus Cuthbert as M&S declares caterpillar cake war on Aldi
Marks & Spencer is taking Aldi to court in a bid to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake. The retailer has accused the discounter chain of riding on its reputational coat-tails after Aldi began selling its own Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which looks very similar. M&S claims it infringes its trademark and could lead shoppers to falsely believe the two products are sourced to the same standards. Lawyers at Dentons logged an intellectual property claim with the High Court this week asking Aldi to stop selling the Cuthbert cake and agree not to sell anything similar in the future. Aldi said it had not stocked the cake since mid-February and declined to comment further. Colin the Caterpillar first went on sale about 30 years ago. The sponge cake is filled with milk chocolate and buttercream, and topped with chocolate, sweets and a smiling white chocolate face. The 625g cake costs £7 - £1.12 per 100g. Cuthbert is £4.99 or 80p per 100g and also has a log-shaped chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate shell. Colin's appearance has remained largely unchanged for more than 15 years, according to the company, although M&S regularly launched sister products such as Connie the Caterpillar and Halloween and Christmas versions. Other supermarkets have created their own similar cakes after M&S designed theirs including Waitrose's Cecil, Sainsbury's Wiggles, Tesco's Curly, and Asda's Clyde the Caterpillar. John Coldham, IP partner at law firm Gowling WLG, said that the two products were "very similar indeed - much closer, it seems, than other caterpillar cakes offered by other retailers". He said this could be why M&S had taken legal action against Aldi: "Trademark cases on shapes of products are notoriously difficult, as most recently seen by Nestle in its attempts to protect the shape of a KitKat, but all these cases turn on the evidence. M&S will presumably be confident that it has sufficient evidence of the shape's distinctiveness to prevail."
