Top row from left: Mondelez’s products Nutter Butter, Chips Ahoy! and Oreo cookies. Bottom row from left: Aldi’s products Peanut Butter Creme, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Original Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Filing. (AP Photos/Nam Y. Huh)
Snack food maker Mondelez International is suing the Aldi supermarket chain, alleging the packaging for Aldi’s store-brand cookies and crackers “blatantly copies” Mondelez products such as Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins and Oreos.
In a federal lawsuit filed May 27 in Illinois, Chicago-based Mondelez said Aldi’s packaging was “likely to deceive and confuse customers” and threatened to irreparably harm Mondelez and its brands. The company is seeking monetary damages and a court order that would stop Aldi from selling products that infringe on its trademarks.
A message seeking comment was left May 29 with Aldi.
Mondelez ranks No. 65 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America and No. 9 among agriculture and food processing carriers.
In the lawsuit, Mondelez displayed side-by-side photos of multiple products. Aldi’s Thin Wheat crackers, for example, come in a gold box very similar to Mondelez’s Wheat Thins. Aldi’s chocolate sandwich cookies and Oreos both have blue packaging. The supermarket’s Golden Round crackers and Mondelez’s Ritz crackers are packaged in red boxes.
READ MORE: Mondelez Says Wary US Shoppers Are Cutting Back on Snacks
Aldi, a German discount chain with U.S. headquarters in Batavia, Ill., 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.
