Lidl returns to market with new product after losing food processor legal battle

After losing a legal battle over their recent food processor, Monsieur Cuisine, dubbed the ‘cheap Thermomix’, Lidl are ready to return to this market with a new, slightly altered, product.

The new machine Prospero, under the brand Kenwood, is an all-in-one food processor that is available only online and performs many of the same functions as the Monsieur Cuisine cooking tool. 

The Monsieur Cuisine retailed at €359, around one-third of the price of the latest Thermomix model, the TM6, and this new item is priced at an even cheaper €200. 

A court in Barcelona ruled in January that the bestselling item infringed on a patent held by German company Vorwerk, manufacturers of the Thermomix kitchen appliance.

Lidl were ordered to withdraw the Monsieur Cuisine from sale in Spain, cease all imports, storage, marketing and advertising of the food processor, and pay compensation and legal fees to Vorwerk.

It remains to be seen whether the kitchen tool company will have any similar complaints of similarity between the new Prospero and any of their existing products. 

The Thermomix owners began legal proceedings in June 2019, and argued that their patent was infringed upon due to the similarities between the two items in question. Lidl argued that there were many similar items on the market, and that Thermomix lacked any novel features.

Thermomix is marketed as "your very own kitchen assistant" and can carry out various tasks including heating, chopping, weighing and stirring.