Aldi lost a UK copycat-palette case in 2019; Shiseido now makes the same claim in China

In 2019, a UK court ruled in Islestarr Holdings Ltd v Aldi Stores Ltd that Aldi's £6.99 LACURA contouring palette infringed the copyright in the design of Charlotte Tilbury's £49 Filmstar Bronze and Glow palette. Aldi lost.

The model persisted. The Nanjinger reported on September 27, 2026 that Shiseido has sued Aldi China, the product's manufacturer and an Aldi Shanghai store operator for unfair competition: a ¥24.9 LACURA primer whose packaging closely resembles Shiseido's ¥540 CPB primer — a gap of more than twentyfold. The case is pending, due at the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court on November 5, 2026.

The stakes grew with Aldi China itself: revenue rose from ¥750 million in 2022 to roughly ¥4 billion in 2025 per China Chain Store & Franchise Association rankings, past 100 stores by March 2026, with more than 90% of what it sells under its own brand and stores capped under 2,000 SKUs. The Nanjinger, citing Southern People Weekly, frames the fight as shelf control shifting from brands to the retailers who stock them.

A lost UK infringement ruling in 2019; an unfair-competition hearing in Shanghai set for November 5, 2026.

LACURA exists to echo branded products at a fraction of the price, and near-identical packaging is part of that value signal.

In the UK case the echo crossed into infringing the design copyright of Charlotte Tilbury's palette, and the court sided with Islestarr.

A ¥24.9 primer against a ¥540 original leaves margin to absorb legal costs across many markets, which keeps the model rational.

Each national case stands alone: losing in London in 2019 did not stop a similar get-up reaching shelves in Shanghai.

Copycat get-ups buy shelf speed with lawsuits; when the copied brand follows you into each new market, the strategy keeps paying legal bills.

The Shanghai hearing is set for November 5, 2026; the material records no defense filing. The UK precedent stands as Aldi's loss in Islestarr v Aldi, and the Shiseido suit — an allegation, not a finding — tests the same copycat playbook in a market where Aldi's own-brand share exceeds 90%.