Jellycat cries copycat: dragon edition

Following a legal claim against Aldi filed earlier this week, Jellycat has thrown its hat into the ring as the latest entrant in a series of supermarket trade mark disputes which have occupied the courts and captured the public’s attention in recent years. 

A quick run-down of the facts: 

The challenger? Jellycat, the maker of plushy animals and anthropomorphic food items much beloved by children and adults alike, including one Dexter the Dragon.

The defender? Aldi, the well-known discount retailer and, until recently, home of one green and purple stuffed dragon (you may be able to see where this is going…).

The background? Jellycat claims that Aldi infringed their intellectual property rights by copying Dexter’s design for their own dragon plushy, which they allege to be “strikingly similar”. For added context, Dexter retails for £27, while Aldi’s version costs a mere £4 – thus if the allegations of copying are proven true, it seems understandable why Jellycat feels the need to step up and defend Dexter’s honour. 

A low blow? In their opening salvo, Jellycat also specifically called Aldi out as a notorious copycat. This is arguably a pointed reference to the fact that Aldi is no stranger to brand battles, and have recently taken on notable opponents including Marks & Spencer and Thatcher’s. The results have been an admittedly mixed bag, with Aldi wrangling a victory over Thatcher’s on cloudy lemon cider in January but losing out to M&S over light-up gin bottles in March. And no one will be quick to forget the battle between M&S’s Colin and Aldi’s Cuthbert, which is now the stuff of internet legend. 

Who will win? Hard to tell, with the opponents still sizing one another up in these early days. That being said, we will be following this case with interest – personally, I am particularly curious to see the extent to which Jellycat pursues their allegation of Aldi’s longstanding copycat behavior, and whether the court ultimately puts any stock in this argument in the context of the established legal principles.