Nestle fails in bid to trademark KitKat shape

LONDON: Nestle failed in a new bid protect the shape of its four-finger Kit Kat chocolate bar under British trademark on Wednesday when London’s Court of Appeal dismissed its attempt to overthrow an earlier ruling.

The case pitted Nestle against rival confectionery maker Cadbury, owned by Mondelez, which argued that the four-finger shape “lacked distinctive character”. A UK court had found in Cadbury’s favour in January, and Wednesday’s ruling is the latest development in an ongoing legal battle since Nestle tried to register the shape as a UK trademark in 2010.

Nestle said it was disappointed by the ruling and was considering next steps.—Reuters

VW chief faces first probe over ‘Dieselgate’

FRANKFURT: Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller on Wednesday stood in the focus of an investigation into the world’s largest carmaker’s ‘dieselgate’ scandal for the first time, along with other key players at the firm.

Mueller and others ”...are suspected of knowingly delaying telling shareholders about the financial consequences for Porsche SE of software manipulation in diesel vehicles by Volkswagen AG,” prosecutors in south-western city Stuttgart said in a statement.

Porsche SE, separate from VW subsidiary Porsche, is a holding company with a majority stake in Volkswagen, and is itself owned by the descendants of renowned VW Beetle inventor Ferdinand Porsche.—AFP

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2017