Mondelez Worldwide, the corporate behind Oreo, Wheat Thins and different name-brand merchandise, says Aldi is copying its packaging in an effort to dupe prospects into shopping for the grocery store chain’s merchandise.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Illinois, the snack firm alleges that Aldi “blatantly copies” the distinctive packaging of its manufacturers with the intention to mislead prospects into pondering they’re shopping for a Mondelez product when they’re really buying a store-brand model. The corporate is searching for financial damages and a court docket order that might stop Aldi from promoting merchandise Mondelez says infringe on its emblems.
Nam Y. Huh / AP
Neither Aldi nor Mondelez instantly responded to CBS Information’ requests for remark.
Mondelez names numerous Aldi merchandise in its lawsuit that it alleges are look-alikes of its personal standard snacks similar to Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins, Nilla Wafers cookies and Nabisco Premium Saltine Crackers. The corporate claims the Aldi store-brand gadgets have totally different names however bear related packaging design parts — together with font, colours, picture placement and product names — to Mondelez merchandise.
Aldi’s Peanut Butter Creme Crammed Cookies, for instance, are available a purple field, much like that of Mondelez’s Nutter Butter cookies. The white script font and cookie picture on the packaging additionally mimic the Nutter Butter packaging, the snack firm claims.
Aldi additionally sells a product referred to as Skinny Wheat, which along with the almost synonymous title to Nabisco’s Wheat Thins, has an analogous design to the Mondelez product, together with a yellow background, the phrase “original” and crackers pictured on the underside half of the field, the lawsuit says.
AP Photographs/Nam Y. Huh
The trademark lawsuit will not be the primary for Aldi, which been referred to as out quite a few occasions over its merchandise’ packaging. Earlier this yr, a U.Okay. appeals court docket dominated in favor of Thatchers, a cider firm, which sued Aldi over design similarities within the packaging of its lemon cider.
Mondelez is likely one of the worlds largest multinational meals firms, with a footprint in over 150 international locations. Aldi, a U.S.-based firm, operates 6,600 shops throughout greater than 10 international locations, in accordance with its web site.
contributed to this report.
