Nestlé's Two And Four-Finger Kit Kat Shape Marks Held To Be Invalid

In Société des Produits Nestlé SA v Petra Foods Ltd ([2014] SGHC 252), Nestlé brought an action against Petra Foods for trademark infringement and copyright infringement. This update deals only with the trademark infringement issue.

Nestlé owned the following trademark registrations (T0000002A and T0000003Z, collectively the 'registered shapes'):

Nestlé also claimed that it was the owner of the following artistic work:

Nestlé argued that the shape and packaging of Petra Foods' Take-It products infringed Nestlé's IP rights:

Chan Seng Onn J of the Singapore High Court declared that Nestlé's two-finger and four-finger shapes were unregistrable and ordered that they be invalidated. He also held that Nestlé was unable to prove ownership of copyright and, therefore, there was no copyright infringement.