So what does that mean for your business? While there are other categories of trademarks that can help you protect your intellectual property rights – logos, names, colors, etc. –, shapes shouldn’t stop at product shapes alone.
There won’t be any trademark protection for the Kit Kat shape in the UK. The British High Court ruled a few weeks ago against KitKat’s manufacturer Nestlé in the long-running battle opposing it to confectionery rival Cadbury. The shape of the four-fingered candy bar is just “not distinctive enough” to warrant a trademark, the judge presiding over the case concluded.
