A BOLTON baker has defeated a rival firm in a legal row — over the design of a pie.

In a North-South pastry spat, Peter Hunt’s Bakery Ltd, based at the Lyon Road Industrial Estate, Kearsley, was accused of copying a Shire Foods design when making their “teardrop” pie.

Midlands-based Shire Foods, which was represented by London investor Volvere Central Services Ltd at the hearing, complained the pie bore too much similarity to its own Wedge product.

But an independent designs and patents hearing officer has found in favour of the Bolton baker — which insisted that the idea for the emblem stemmed from the emblem of his favourite football club, Leeds United.

The pie is made to look like a wedge from a larger pie, only with side walls, an idea which the other firm claimed was not unique as it had made a similar product already.

D W Baking, which owns Peter Hunt’s Bakery Ltd, had claimed the design was exclusive, and that it was challenging the norm that pies should always be round.

A hearing in South Wales heard from David Wood, managing director of the firm, that the pie reflected his love of Leeds United and Oliver Morris, who was presiding over the case, agreed.

D W Baking will retain its exclusive design right.

Mr Morris ruled that “informed, knowledgeable and particularly observant” pie-eaters would appreciate the novelty of the teardrop product.

He said the products, given that Mr Wood’s has rounder edges than Volvere’s triangular pie, were “not, literally speaking, identical”.

The pie from Mr Wood was more like a “guitar plectrum, or even a bicycle saddle”, he added.


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Mr Wood had argued that, were segments of his pie arranged, they would form a “polygon”, rather than a simple circle which an arrangement of Volvere pies would create. Volvere were also ordered to contribute £1,500 to D W Baking’s costs after the verdict was reached.

D W Baking declined to comment on the case until any potential appeal has been made.

No-one from Shire Foods was available for comment.