The tea towel burns between Lidl et Vorwerk. The company who manufactures the Thermomix food processor accuses the brand German counterfeit. Lidl would indeed have been a little too inspired by the Thermomix, sold € 1,300, to develop its own robot-cooker, the Monsieur Cuisine Connect, sold only € 329, reports Capital.
Europe 1 revealed Thursday, January 21 that Vorwerk has allegedly launched legal proceedings against Lidl in France. This information falls two days after the withdrawal of Monsieur Cuisine Connect from Lidl stores in Spain, following a decision by the Barcelona court on Tuesday 19 January.
236 invoices entered at Lidl France
Vorwerk confirmed to Capital that several similar legal proceedings had been launched against Lidl in several countries, including France. An order from the Paris tribunal de grande instance even reveals that in 2019, the German brand had obtained authorization to carry out “infringement seizure” operations at Lidl France’s headquarters.
On June 3, 2019, bailiffs seized robots, an inventory statement, advertising brochures as well as 236 invoices. These elements could allow Justice to determine if Lidl violated patent protection laws and copied the Thermomix in order to develop its own food processor.
Redacted documents
In response, Lidl had Vorwerk brought before the French courts to obtain “The immediate return of seized products and documents”. The German brand maintains that invoices and other documents are not “Neither necessary nor useful for the company Vorwerk to establish the existence of alleged acts of infringement”.
However, the court ruled that Vorwerk could well have access to these documents in the context of the infringement dispute. The documents will simply be redacted to avoid revealing to the group confidential information for Lidl which could jeopardize healthy competition between the two companies.
– .
