The Federal Court of Australia has dismissed WM Wrigley’s attempt to block Cadbury Schweppes’ sale of Trebor mints on the basis that it infringes a Wrigley patent.

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Wrigley claimed that it holds a patent, filed in May 1987, on “hard coated” gums. The company argued that its chewing gum recipe produced a unique hard sugarless coating.


However, the three-year legal battle came to a close on Monday (4 September) when the court dismissed the company’s case “on grounds of unfairness”, stating that the patent was based on misrepresentations.


The court is awaiting an independent assessment of legal costs, which will be paid by Wrigley. These have been estimated at as much as A$1m (US$ 762,000).

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