Arthur and around ten other creditors of the Ethical Coffee Company are taking Nespresso to court in Switzerland. FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Between 2009 and 2010 he invested 8 million euros in a company that wanted to market capsules in competition with the Nestlé subsidiary.
The host Arthur and a dozen other creditors of the Ethical Coffee Company are demanding 278 million Swiss francs (297 million euros) from Nespresso in the Swiss courts, their lawyer François Besse told Le Figaro on Tuesday, January 16, confirming information from La Tribune de Geneva. The French-Moroccan producer and television presenter invested 8 million euros between 2009 and 2010 and received 5% of the shares in the young company, which wanted to market biodegradable capsules for Nespresso coffee machines.
At that time, the Nestlé subsidiary closed the market because its capsules were the only ones compatible with its machines. “Ethical Coffee Company (ECC) opened the market with its competing capsule,” remembers Me François Besse. Nespresso then sued the company in Switzerland and recalled that the shape of its capsule was registered as a protected trademark. The ECC is banned from selling its pods on the Swiss market for three years, from 2011 to 2014.
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“War of the Pods”
The two companies clashed in court for years in what the press dubbed the “pod wars.” “But this attack has clipped ECC’s wings on the Swiss market,” laments Me François Besse. Meanwhile, competitors “rushed into the breach without being attacked,” the lawyer points out, and ECC found itself late in a market in which the company was playing a pioneering role. A delay that the company was never able to catch up with and went bankrupt in 2018.
In 2021, the Swiss Federal Court finally ruled that the ban was unfounded, the shape of the capsule could not be registered as intellectual property because it was technically almost impossible to make a pod compatible with Nespresso machines from a shape other than the original. The eleven creditors are now demanding 278 million francs from the Nestlé subsidiary for the damage caused by this ban.
A mediation hearing between the parties will take place on February 20th. If an amicable settlement is not reached, ECC's creditors may decide to continue their lawsuit. “The process will then take two to three years,” emphasizes Me François Besse. Unless an agreement is finally reached along the way. Contacted, Nespresso has not yet responded to inquiries from Le Figaro.