Exclusive: Vittoria’s ‘David vs Goliath’ court victory against Moccona sends a message that smaller companies won’t be bullied, Vittoria chief executive Les Schirato has told 9News.com.au.
The Australian family-owned coffee company has had a legal victory after global brand Moccona, owned by $15 billion dollar US-dutch giant Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), took it to court over its instant coffee jar shapes.
Schirato told 9News.com.au he had been confident Vittoria would come out on top in the costly court battle, which saw Moccona accuse it of copying an ‘iconic’ jar shape for freeze-dried instant coffee.
“It’s still nerve-wracking, we were fighting the biggest coffee company in the world,” Schirato said.
“It takes a long process and we spent a huge amount of money defending it. [Most] family companies or coffee companies wouldn’t have been able to spend that money.”
Schirato said he was …