In the lawsuit, snack food maker Mondelez displayed side-by-side photos of their products next to Aldi’s store-brand cookies and crackers.
CHICAGO — Mondelez International, a prominent snack food producer, is taking legal action against the Aldi supermarket chain, claiming that Aldi’s store-brand cookies and crackers have packaging that “blatantly copies” well-known Mondelez products such as Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins, and Oreos.
In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Illinois, Mondelez, based in Chicago, argued that the design of Aldi’s packaging is “likely to deceive and confuse customers” and could cause irreparable damage to Mondelez’s reputation and brand identity. The company is requesting financial compensation and a court injunction to prevent Aldi from selling products that infringe upon its trademarks.
A message seeking comment was left Thursday with Aldi.
The lawsuit features side-by-side comparisons of several products. For instance, Aldi’s Thin Wheat crackers are presented in a gold box that closely resembles the packaging of Mondelez’s Wheat Thins. Additionally, both Aldi’s chocolate sandwich cookies and Mondelez’s Oreos use blue packaging. Furthermore, Aldi’s Golden Round crackers and Mondelez’s Ritz crackers are found in similar red boxes.
Aldi, a German discount chain with U.S. headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, keeps prices low by primarily selling products under its own labels.
The chain has faced lawsuits over its packaging before. Last year, an Australian court found that Aldi infringed on the copyright of Baby Bellies snack puffs for young children. In that case, Aldi’s packaging featured a cartoon owl and similar colors to the name-brand packaging.
Earlier this year, a U.K. appeals court ruled in favor of Thatchers, a cider company, which sued Aldi over design similarities in the packaging of its lemon cider.
Mondelez said in its lawsuit that the company had contacted Aldi on numerous occasions about “confusingly similar packaging.” Mondelez said Aldi discontinued or changed the packaging on some items but continued to sell others.
The lawsuit also alleges that Aldi infringed on Mondalez’s trade dress rights for the packaging of Nutter Butter and Nilla Wafers cookies, and its Premium cracker brand.
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