COPY DETECTIVE · Japan → Korea

Pocky vs Pepero

All cases한국어

FINAL OUTCOME

Infringement rejected (US trade-dress suit)

INFRINGEMENT REJECTED · Finality unconfirmed

Pepero came 17 years after Pocky and the comparison never went away, but in Glico’s US trade-dress suit the court held the stick shape functional and unprotectable. No Korean proceeding over the two products was found.

Original
Ezaki Glico Pocky · 1966
Compared
Lotte Pepero · 1983
Launch gap
17 years later
Alleged
Product shape, Trade dress
Licence
No licence found (not a finding of illegality)
Rights
Trade dress, Trademark, Unfair competition

Look at how it actually ended, not at how alike it looks. An allegation is not a finding.

ALLEGATION → RESPONSE → DECISION → OUTCOME

Allegation

Public Press coverage regularly notes Pepero came 17 years after Pocky, making it the stock example in “original” debates.

Ezaki Glico (2015) — Sued in the US claiming Pepero infringed Pocky’s trade dress [Trade dress, Unfair competition] · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (A)

Company response

Nothing confirmed

Court / agency decision

D.N.J. → U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit · Appeal · 2021-01-26 — Claim rejected

Final outcome

INFRINGEMENT REJECTED — A court or IP office rejected the rights holder’s claim

SIMILARITY MATRIX

What was said to be alike, item by item

Launch
1966 → 1983 · 17 years later
Product shape
Similarity alleged — Chocolate-coated stick with an uncoated end
Packaging
Unknown
Product name
Different
Logo
Different
Recipe / taste
Unknown
Advertising
Unknown
Licence
No licence found (not a finding of illegality)
Legal conclusion
Infringement rejected (US trade-dress suit)

No automatic image-similarity score is used; looking alike is not legal infringement. Official images are added once usage rights are confirmed.

TIMELINE

In order

  1. 1966 LAUNCHGlico launches Pocky · Ezaki Glico (B)
  2. 1983 LAUNCHLotte launches Pepero (17 years later) · 아시아경제 (C)
  3. 2015 LEGALGlico files a US trade-dress suit · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (A)
  4. 2021-01-26 OUTCOMEThird Circuit: Pocky’s design is functional and unprotectable — Lotte’s win affirmed · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (A)
  5. 1990s~ AFTERWARDSPepero Day (11 Nov) became its own Korean custom, reportedly started by students in the 1990s · 아시아경제 (C)

LEGAL PROCESS

Each decision and its reasons

D.N.J. → U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit · Appeal

2021-01-26 · D.C. No. 2-15-cv-05477 / No. 19-3010 · Trade dress · Claim rejected · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (A)

  • The district court granted Lotte summary judgment because Pocky’s design is functional; the appeals court affirmed.
  • Trade dress protects only source-identifying designs, not useful (functional) ones.
  • Every feature of the registered Pocky design relates to holding, eating, sharing or packing.
  • Patent law protects useful inventions; trademark law does not.

Reasons are short paraphrases of the cited source only.

ORIGINALITY EVOLUTION

How it developed afterwards

Unknown

A distinct custom (Pepero Day) grew around the product; taste and range differences are not judged without a formal comparison.

UNKNOWN

Left blank for lack of a source

  • Any licence (none found)
  • Lotte’s official statement
  • Any Korean proceeding
  • Any US Supreme Court petition
  • Recipe differences

No “saved R&D cost” estimate is made without real data.

SOURCES

Checked 2026-10-08. Not legal advice. Know of an error or a later ruling? Tell us.