Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504500
10 WORLD 27.7.2023 HIGH street giant H&M has launched a lawsuit against Shein for copyright infringement, seeking unspecified damages and an injunction to stop the fast-fashion retailer from copying its copyrighted designs. With claims summoning back to July 2021, Top100 retailer, H&M has con- firmed the hearing is set to take place on 31 July. However, the this is not the first time major retailers have been at war with each other in a legal battle. From suing supermarkets to caterpillar copyright claims, InternetRetailing looks at some of the biggest legal battles in recent years. Ocado v AutoStore Just this week Ocado won its three year long robot war legal battle against rival Norwegian company AutoStore. Back in 2020, AutoStore attempted to protect six patents that it said Oca- do had breached, and launched a legal battle, however, from this month the company will pay Top350 retailer Oca- do £200 million in 24 monthly instal- ments. "I am pleased that we have worked together to resolve our differences and can now continue to focus on what we do best – innovating, developing and enabling partners to access world beating technology," Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said. AutoStore chief executive Mats Hov- land Vikse added: "We are glad to have achieved a resolution that gives both companies opportunity and freedom to commercialise our extensive patent portfolios." M&S v Aldi Marks and Spencer (M&S) and dis- count grocer Aldi have come to blows twice in the last few years, with a le- gal battle first kicking off in 2021 after M&S started legal action in an effort to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake. e Leading Retailer claimed that Al- di's Cuthbert the Caterpillar product infringed its trademark. In February last year, the pair man- aged to reach a settlement through a "confidential agreement" over the cop- yright issue However, as a result, the discount grocer also filed its own trademark ap- plication for Cuthbert. Despite the settlement in caterpillar cake dispute, M&S also took Aldi to court again, this time over its gold- flake gin, 'e Infusionist', claiming it is a dupe of it's Light-Up Gin. e Aldi version, which has an iden- tical bottle shape and also illuminates from below, both features gold flakes in the liquid, but Aldi's version was being sold for £6 cheaper. According to M&S court documents said, Aldi's liqueurs "constitute designs which do not produce on the informed user a different overall impression to the M&S designs." Sainsbury's v Tesco Two of the largest UK supermarkets have had legal issues over marketing and advertising claims over its "Price Promise" comparison scheme. In 2013, Sainsbury's took legal action against the rival Big 4 grocer over a se- ries comparative advertisements where Tesco was claiming it offered lower prices than Sainsbury's. According to Sainsbury's these claims were misleading, resulting in the su- permarket giant filing a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). After nearly four months of investi- gating the complaint, the ASA ruled in favour of Tesco, however, a year later Sainsbury's got the green light to ap- peal the claims. Sainsbury's argued that Tesco Price Promise was "mislead- ing" failed to take into account prod- uct attributes such as relative quality, provenance and ethics. Guess v Gucci Back in 2009, luxury fashion retailer Gucci accused Guess of of trademark infringement over their interlocking G logos. Gucci subsequently filed for lawsuits in Italy, France, Australia and China. However, judges in Milan and Paris ruled in favour of Guess and the luxu- ry retailer won favour in Australia and China. In 2018, Gucci and Guess finally set- tled the nine-year legal battle and in n a joint statement, the pair said: "e agreement is an important step for both companies in recognising the sig- nificance of protecting their respective intellectual property portfolios and de- sign creativity." Four of the biggest legal battles that rocked retail