Katjes in Patent Dispute with Lindt, Nestlé & Others Over Vegan Chocolate

German confectioner Katjes Fassin is battling European competitors like Lindt and Nestlé over its patent for oat milk chocolate.

Hydrolysed oat flour might seem like an innocuous ingredient, but it’s at the centre of a legal dispute between some of Europe’s largest chocolate manufacturers.

Katjes, the German candy producer behind Carambar, Terry’s and Treets, is fighting competitors in the industry to protect its oat milk chocolate patent. The dispute revolves around the use of hydrolysed oat flour to produce vegan chocolates, a method Katjes has employed for its Chocjes line since 2019.

Swiss giant Lindt has been locked in a court dispute with Katjes since 2022, while it is among a number of other major chocolate manufacturers (including Nestlé and Barry Callebaut) challenging the granting of the patent at the European Patent Office (EPO). While the attempt was rejected earlier this year, the EPO is set to address an appeal by the companies in March 2025.

Lindt found to infringe oat milk chocolate recipe

The crux of the dispute concerns Katjes’s recipe for hydrolysed oat flour. The process breaks down long-chain molecules in oat milk to lend non-dairy chocolates a creamier texture.

According to Law.com, the patent documents suggest that without hydrolysis, vegan chocolates tend to be relatively coarse and gritty, compared to conventional milk-based versions.

The patent describes the oat milk chocolate product as one “made from a vegan chocolate mass, which contains at least one component of cocoa beans selected from the group consisting of cocoa butter and cocoa mass, at least one sweetener, and at least 1% by weight, based on the total weight of the chocolate mass, of hydrolysed oat flour”.

Katjes uses the ingredient in its Chocjes range, which comes in original, salty pretzel, salted caramel and cookie flavours. But it’s something Lindt also used in its Hello line of vegan chocolates, prompting Katjes to file a suit in Düsseldorf in 2022, accusing the Swiss giant of infringing its recipe.

At the time, Lindt marketed the Hello chocolates by highlighting the oat milk base. Officials had visited its factory in Aanchen, Germany to secure evidence, and in May this year, the regional court ruled that Lindt had infringed Katjes’s patent by producing and selling similar vegan chocolates, rejecting the former’s claim that its manufacturing process is significantly different from the patent.

Lind claimed that “the term hydrolysis is not defined in more detail in the patent and should therefore be interpreted broadly”, but the court decided that it may no longer use that composition or manufacturing process, or even sell the product in Germany, according to Juve Patent.

The judges granted Katjes a claim for damages “in principle” but the amount has not been determined yet. It will be calculated based on information Lindt provides about the sales and distribution of the affected products.

Katjes could lose patent for oat milk powder

Lindt has already reformulated the recipe for its Hello oat milk chocolates, but the dispute is not over. The chocolate manufacturer is appealing the decision, with the Higher Regional Court set to hear the arguments in November.

Separately, Lindt is challenging the patent itself, as are Nestlé, Barry Callebaut, Casa Luker, and retailer Coop. The EPO’s Opposition Division rejected the claims and upheld the patent in January, but these companies have since filed an appeal.

The Board of Appeal is set to hear arguments in March, and an initial assessment suggests that it might side with the opposition during the hearing.

“The technical solution derives directly from the state of the art and does not require an inventive step,” reads a communication from the board, suggesting that Katjes’s invention is not innovative enough to be patented.

That would be a blow for Katjes, which has held the patent since 2021. But it has been ramping up its innovation of future-friendly chocolate products, having launched a vegan-friendly, cocoa-free version of its Treets peanut dragées in Germany earlier this year, in collaboration with Planet A Foods.

Coincidentally, Lindt also partnered with the cocoa-free chocolate startup for a hybrid Soft & Creamy Hazelnut bar for Veganuary 2024.