"Let's raise money for charity, not lawyers," said Aldi

Aldi is donating profits from its controversial Cuthbert Caterpillar cake for charity, despite the supermarket being taken to court for infringing trademark laws.

The cake was taken from shelves in February before M&S accused the supermarket of infringing its Colin the Caterpillar trademark.

Now sales of a limited edition version will benefit Teenage Cancer Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.

"Hey Marks and Spencer we're taking a stand against caterpillar cruelty. Can Colin and Cuthbert be besties?" said Aldi on social media.

"We're bringing back a limited edition Cuthbert next month and want to donate all profits to cancer charities including your partners Macmillan Cancer Support and ours Teenage Cancer Trust," it said, using the Twitter hashtag #caterpillarsforcancer.

M&S lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court. It said Cuthbert's similarity with its own Colin cake led consumers to believe they were of the same standard and "rides on the coat-tails" of M&S's reputation.

Colin is central to M&S's partnership with cancer charity Macmillan, and the retailer has created a Colin product for the annual World's Biggest Coffee Morning fundraising event.

M&S was the first retailer to sell a caterpillar cake, but many supermarkets have since created their own similar products.

Aldi said it was calling on other supermarkets to join it in raising money for cancer charities through the sale of caterpillar cakes.