Cider maker Thatchers sues Aldi accusing supermarket of ripping off one of its drinks
CIDER maker Thatchers is suing Aldi, accusing the supermarket giant of copying one of its drinks.
The family-run firm says the German company “mimicked” its Cloudy Lemon Cider with its own Taurus brand.
Lawyers say the design on Aldi’s £3.99 four-pack looks “highly similar” to Thatchers’ “zingy and refreshing” £5.75 product.
A writ claims that this could cause “checkout confusion”, hitting sales and causing “injury to its reputation”.
The 115-year-old Somerset brewer — with the slogan “perfection in every drop” — is seeking damages of at least £500,000 at London’s High Court for breach of intellectual property.
It also wants a ban on sales of the alleged copycat cans and a court order forcing Aldi to destroy them.
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Thatchers Cloudy Lemon Cider was launched in 2020, with sales hitting £9million in the first year.
The company realised in June that Aldi had begun selling its own Taurus Cloudy Cider Lemon.
Its lawyers say: “The overall appearance of the Aldi product is highly similar to that of the Thatchers product.”
However, they claim shoppers have pointed out the difference.
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One dubbed the Aldi drink “a Thatchers Lemon Cider rip-off”.
No Aldi defence had been made publicly available.
