Barcelona Court Orders Lidl to Withdraw Sale of ‘ChefBot’

BARCELONA Court Orders Lidl to Withdraw Sale of ‘ChefBot’ After it Reportedly Breached the Patent of Thermomix

The Commercial Court of Barcelona has ordered the multinational supermarket chain Lidl to remove all its Monsieur Cousine “ChefBot’ machines from the market, considering that it has breached the patent of Thermomix.

The ruling comes after a lawsuit brought in the Spanish courts by the German companies Vorwerk, manufacturer of Thermomix, against the Lidl supermarkets, distributors of Monsieur Cuisine Connect.

The court ruled that Vorwerk has all the rights of its machine protected in Spain and it considers that Lidl has infringed on those rights with its machine.

The Court concluded that the machine marketed by Lidl “reproduces each and every one of the characteristics” of the Vorwerk patent, thereby violating the Patent Law.

The court ordered Lidl to cease importing, storing, offering and marketing the Monsieur Cousine Connect machine, and to withdraw all machines from the market, those in its possession and that of its distributors. Also, to withdraw all advertising and promotional material, including that hosted on the internet.

The Barcelona court concludes that Lidl’s robot constitutes “an infringement of the exclusive rights deriving from the Spanish patent” held by Vorwerk and must also compensate the manufacturer of Thermomix for the damage caused.

That figure has not yet been fixed but will be set at the stage of enforcement of this judgment.