Swiss food firm Nestle has won a trademark lawsuit against Cadbury over the rights for KitKat chocolate bar shape.
The European-wide ruling issued by the board of appeal at the Community Trade Mark Office reinstates Nestlé's right over the four-fingered and three-dimensional shape of KitKat chocolate bars. This ruling prevents rivals from manufacturing similar products.
Nestle registered the shape of KitKat bar shape in 2006, but Cadbury had then won an appeal that invalidated the registration, claiming that general features such as shape of the product cannot be trademarked.
The four-fingered and three-dimensional shape of a KitKat was designed in 1935 in York.
In 2012, Cadbury won a trademark lawsuit that prevented its competitors from using the purple color on its dairy milk chocolate wrappers.