Lidl v Tesco: Court of Appeal revives Tesco’s bad faith attack on Lidl’s wordless logo
Lidl Great BritainvTesco Stores
- Court
- Court of Appeal
- Judgment
- 2 November 2022
- Citation
- [2022] EWCA Civ 1433
Registering a logo you never actually use, purely to widen your legal monopoly, can be challenged as bad faith and is hard to strike out early.
Lidl sued Tesco over its Clubcard Prices yellow circle logo. Tesco fought back by arguing Lidl's wordless version of its own logo was registered in bad faith, and the Court of Appeal said that argument deserves a trial.
What happened
Lidl sued Tesco for trademark infringement and passing off over Tesco's yellow-circle-on-blue-square Clubcard Prices sign. Part of Lidl's case relied on a "Wordless Mark", a version of its logo without the word LIDL, which Lidl had never actually used in that form. Tesco counterclaimed that this registration was invalid for bad faith, arguing it existed purely as a legal weapon to stretch Lidl's protection beyond the logo it actually used, and pointing to a pattern of repeated re-registration ("evergreening") to dodge the five-year non-use rules. The High Court struck out Tesco's bad faith argument, finding it disclosed no reasonable grounds.
What did the court decide in Lidl Great Britain v Tesco Stores?
The Court of Appeal disagreed with the High Court and reinstated Tesco's counterclaim. It held that Tesco's pleaded facts, including Lidl's own admission that it wanted wider protection than its actually-used logo, plus the pattern of repeatedly re-filing the same mark for overlapping goods and services, were enough to shift the burden onto Lidl to explain its filing strategy. That gave Tesco's bad faith case a real prospect of success, meaning it had been wrongly struck out before trial.
What we learned from this
- What I'd take from this is that a trademark registered mainly as a defensive legal weapon, rather than for genuine use, carries real risk if it's ever challenged.
- Repeatedly re-registering the same logo to sidestep non-use revocation ('evergreening') can itself support a bad faith claim.
- A bad faith challenge based on a pattern of filing behaviour is not easy for the other side to get struck out before trial.
- This ruling only decided the claim could go forward, it did not decide whether Lidl actually acted in bad faith.
Things to be aware of
- This is a strike-out decision only, the Court of Appeal did not rule on whether Lidl's registration was actually made in bad faith.
- The case turned heavily on Lidl's own admission about wanting wider protection, not every defensive filing will have that kind of evidence.
The businesses involved
Lidl Great Britain Limited
Registered in England since 1993 and still active, running Lidl's supermarket retail business in Great Britain.
- Companies House
- 02816429 Active
- Incorporated
- May 1993
- Registered office
- Surbiton
- Business activity
- Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating
- UK trademarks
- 0
Tesco Stores Limited
Registered in England since 1953 and still active, running Tesco's supermarket and general retail business, and holding a very large portfolio of 889 trademarks on the UK trademark register.
- Companies House
- 00519500 Active
- Incorporated
- May 1953
- Registered office
- Welwyn Garden City
- Business activity
- Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating; Other retail sale of food in specialised stores; Retail sale of clothing in specialised stores; Retail sale of cosmetic and toilet articles in specialised stores
- UK trademarks
- 889
What happened next
- Reuters reported the November 2022 ruling as a win for Tesco, allowing its bad faith argument against Lidl to proceed.Source: Reuters, November 2022
- Reuters had earlier reported that Tesco and Lidl were contesting ownership and rights over the logo in UK court proceedings ahead of the appeal.Source: Reuters, October 2022
- Hogan Lovells Cadwalader reported that at a later full trial the Court of Appeal found Tesco's Clubcard Prices logo infringed Lidl's trademark, but rejected the copyright infringement claim.Source: Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, May 2024
- Capital Law reported that the subsequent Court of Appeal decision centred on Tesco's use of a yellow circle design similar to Lidl's logo in its Clubcard pricing scheme.Source: Capital Law, May 2024
What others said about it
- Hogan Lovells Cadwalader noted the dispute covered trademark infringement, passing off and copyright infringement claims brought by Lidl against Tesco's Clubcard logo.Source: Hlc
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This page is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance. Summary drafted with AI assistance from the published judgment and checked by The Trademark Helpline (how we write these). Judgment: [2022] EWCA Civ 1433 on Find Case Law, published under the Open Justice Licence. Company details from Companies House; trademark counts from the UK trademark register. Last reviewed 26 October 2026. Report an error.
