Mars has won a High Court battle over whether or not the Swiss confectioner had the right to trademark the phrase "have a break", which allows Mars to launch a rival new product called Have a Break.
Although, according to a survey, 98% of Britons would respond to the line "have a break" with the words "have a Kit Kat", a judge ruled that the phrase is not yet implanted in the nation's consciousness and, therefore, Nestle could not claim that it owned it.
Nestle tried to trademark "have a break" in May but was refused, so it proceeded to take the case to the High Court.
Yesterday's ruling means that Mars is free to go ahead with its Have a Break product. Mars itself turned its back on advertising history only recently, swapping long-standing incumbent and now defunct D'Arcy, the agency that came up with "A Mars a day helps you work rest and play", for Grey Worldwide's "Pleasure you can't measure" campaign.
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