Budget supermarket Lidl has broken its silence after frozen food firm Iceland threatened legal action over its ‘iconic’ prawn ring.
The supermarket is pulling no punches and has applied to legally trademark the term ‘King Prawn Ring’ and its design, which could prevent other companies from bringing out their own versions of the product.
Executive chairman Richard Walker took to social media to directly address competitors such as Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Asda, warning them: ‘The King Prawn Ring is ours and we won’t be letting you off the hook.’
But now, the supermarket brand, Lidl, has responded to this in tongue and cheek style, saying: ‘Here was us thinking it was a classic 1970s party dish.’
The threats stir memories of how Marks & Spencer and Aldi were previously embroiled in a bitter supermarket cake war.
British retailer M&S had accused the German discounter of copying the design of its famous Colin the Caterpillar for their rival Cuthbert, in a dispute which even made it to London‘s High Court before a truce was agreed in 2022.
Iceland has announced it wants to trademark the term ‘King Prawn Ring’ as well as its product’s design, while also announcing a new ‘Luxury King Prawn Ring’ offering
The frozen food retailer published an open letter ‘as a warning to all supermarkets’
Tesco is among the rival supermarket chains directly called out by iceland’s executive chairman Richard Walker as he threatened legal action over similar products
Aldi was also named in Mr Walker’s social media post sharing Iceland’s newly-published letter
Official records show Iceland filed the trademark claim with the IPO on September 9. The bid is currently under examination.
The company announced its move in an open letter published today, packed with fish-related wordplay.
The frozen food retailer insisted it wanted rivals to think twice about including what they called an ‘impostor of a King Prawn Ring’ in upcoming Christmas ranges.
Mr Walker said: ‘When it comes to the King Prawn Ring, Iceland are the OGs. From the idea to the name and the shape, we believe it’s our own iconic product that has been a staple of our Christmas range for the past 30 years.
‘We’ve had enough of the pretenders and we’re now taking action. We’ve applied for a trademark and design application, and we expect our King Prawn Ring to be the only one on the shelves this Christmas.’
Iceland posted a copy of the new warning letter on X, formerly Twitter.
The post was shared by Mr Walker to his 25,300 followers, adding: ‘I’ve rubber stamped this official warning today.
‘The King Prawn Ring is ours and we won’t be letting you off the hook, @AldiUK @Tesco @asda @LidlGB @Morrisons @sainsburys @coopuk.’
Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker (right), pictured with the Princess of Wales during her visit to an Iceland store, has threatened legal action against rival retailers
Mr Walker told other supermarket chains on social media: ‘The King Prawn Ring is ours and we won’t be letting you off the hook’
The punning letter states that it is ‘a warning to all supermarkets’, telling them: ‘We are today asking you to remove your pretender King Prawn Rings from sale and to not include them in any of your impending Christmas ranges.
‘Doing so will ensure you don’t have any action taken against you should our applications be granted.
‘Our lawyers are more than ready to dive into legal waters, and trust us, they’re well-armed to claw back what’s rightfully ours.
‘We don’t want to have to scale things up, but if you continue to flounder in your ways, we’ll have no choice but to reel you in.’
Among the responses on X was a comment from Lidl’s account, saying, ‘Sea-riously?’ – to which the Iceland counterpart replied: ‘Shell yes.’
MailOnline has contacted all the supermarket firms named on social media by Mr Walker for comment.
The cake-related battle between Marks & Spencer and Aldi saw high-powered lawyers called in on both sides.
M&S argued it had three trademarks relating to Colin and the product had acquired and retained an enhanced distinctive character and reputation.
A spawn of apparent imitators had been launched by rival stores such as Sainsbury’s Wiggles, Tesco’s Curly, Morris by Morrisons, the Co-op’s Charlie, Cecil by Waitrose and Asda’s Clyde.
Marks & Spencer was previously in dispute with German discounter Aldi after it accused them of copying the design of its famous Colin the Caterpillar cake (pictured) for their rival Cuthbert
The wrangle involving Aldi’s Cuthbert (pictured) even made it to London ‘s High Court before a truce was agreed in 2022
M&S first launched the lawsuit against Aldi in April 2021 in a bid to force its rival to take its Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake off the shelves and agree to not sell anything resembling it in the future.
The following month Aldi started selling its caterpillar cake again after making changes to its chocolate face design.
The case reached London’s High Court in 2021 – but the following year both supermarkets confirmed an agreement had been struck to resolve the conflict.
It was understood that Cuthbert would not appear again in quite the same form and a version later arrived on Aldi shelves with the name Holly Lane Cuthbert Cake.