Toblerone Finally Settles Legal Brawl with Cheaper Chocolate Copycat

For the past several months, lawyers in Britain have been wrestling with a difficult challenge that, at times, seemed unlikely to come to a resolution. No, it has nothing to do with the ongoing Brexit negotiations, but instead involved a British discount chain fighting for the right to sell knockoff Toblerone candy bars in its stores.

In June, Poundland revealed its Twin Peaks bar, a chocolate bar that it said was based on the shape of the Wrekin and Erkin, two large-ish hills near the Welsh border. It also seemed unapologetically based on Toblerone, which some believe took its distinctive shape from the 14,692’ Matterhorn mountain, as illustrated on its package. (Interestingly, Toblerone creator Theodor Tobler’s sons say their dad was actually inspired by a human pyramid created by Paris’s Folies Bergères dancers at the end of their show).

Poundland decided to manufacture the Twin Peaks bar after Toblerone reshaped its own chocolate offering last fall, increasing the size of the ‘valleys’ between the triangular peaks in an attempt to cut manufacturing costs and maintain its current retail price. (One customer called it the “dumbest corporate decision of all time,” an opinion that was repeated by most of Toblerone’s surprisingly passionate fanbase).

After the redesign, Poundland said that the shape of the chocolate bar was “no longer distinctive enough” to warrant a trademark, and that its reputation had been damaged with the British public. Poundland applied for its own trademark for its double-peaked candy design, a move that was swiftly protested by Mondelez, the company that owns Toblerone. Mondelez described the Twin Peaks bar as being “deceptively and confusingly similar” to Toblerone, and immediately sought damages for trademark infringement.

Poundland was forced to delay the launch of the Twin Peaks bar but in October, the two sides came to an agreement: Poundland would be allowed to sell 500,000 Twin Peaks, but would then have to change the design to further distinguish it from Toblerone’s shape. In addition, Poundland has to package Twin Peaks bars in blue and gold wrappers, instead of the very Toblerone-esque gold and red packages it had originally hoped for.

“In the last 12 months we believe our customers alone have missed out on 250 tons of chocolate after the size of their favourite item was chopped,” Poundland trading controller Chris Burns said. “That’s why we began development on Twin Peaks in the first place. Although it’s been a longer climb than we expected, we’re pleased customers will finally get to taste our Twin Peaks—180 grams of delicious, British-made chocolate, for just £1.”

The agreed-upon stash of 500,000 bars was released for sale in all 850 Poundland stores on Monday morning. We can now run freely through these knockoff chocolate valleys.