Lidl allowed to sell Monsieur Cuisine kitchen appliance after Thermomix ruling overturned

German retailer Lidl will be allowed to sell its popular Monsieur Cuisine kitchen robot after all as the Barcelona provincial court ruled that its appliance does not violate a patent held by Vorwerk for Thermomix, thereby overturning a lower court ruling a year earlier.

This latest verdict, made public on Wednesday, states that Vorwerk illegitimately expanded its patent's coverage while registering it and that the company's product did not meet what is known as the "inventive step" requirement for patents.

Vowerk can appeal this decision, but must comply with it in the meantime.

An ongoing battle

In January 2021, Lidl was forced to remove the food processor from its shelves in Spain as well as to cease all imports, storage, marketing, and advertising and Vorwerk was awarded damages.

Lidl was also ordered to pay Vorwerk's legal fees in the battle against its product, which at €230 is almost 5 and a half times cheaper than the Thermomix TM6.

Vorwerk initiated legal proceedings in June 2019, arguing that their European patent, registered in Spain in 2008, had been violated due to the similarities between the two products.

Lidl, on the other hand, has maintained that there were many other similar food processors on the market and that Thermomix lacked novel features.