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Former head of Nespresso takes Nestle to court

A former head of Nespresso and chief executive of Ethical Coffee, has lodged a complaint in court against Nestle for patent infringement.

Jean-Paul Gaillard, chairman and chief executive of Ethical Coffee, helped create the single-dose coffee market as chief executive of Nespresso and then went on to launch the cheaper Ethical brand of coffee pods to counter Nespresso.

Ethical Coffee Company has lodged a complaint in a Paris court against Nestle for patent infringement with its Nespresso coffee machines, news.com.au reports.

Ethical, which makes coffee capsules that can be used in Nespresso machines, said in a statement that it had suffered losses of at least 150 million euros ($A225 million) since 2010.

Nespresso has been accused of modifying its machines to keep competitors’ capsules out of them with a “harpoon” device in its new Pixie range which jams the capsules.

ECC said this move went against its patent.

The company added that a decision by the Paris court would only apply to the ECC patent violation in France, but it could launch similar legal action in other countries.

Nespresso denies any patent infringement and says it will fight the case in court.

In June last year, ECC won a legal suit against Nespresso in France when a Paris trade tribunal ruled against the giant in an unfair competition suit filed in 2012.

It ordered Nespresso to pay 500,000 euros to ECC and 40,000 euros more to cover legal fees.

 

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