Aldi is being sued by Oreo maker Mondelez for 'blatantly copying' packaging

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

The company behind US snacks such as Oreos and Chips Ahoy is suing the American branch of the Aldi supermarket chain, alleging the store's biscuit brands are "blatant copies" of its products.
This isn't the first time the supermarket has found itself facing a challenge over similarities in the packaging of its products and those of other brands.
Here's what we know.
Chicago company Mondelez filed a federal lawsuit this week which alleged Aldi's packaging of several of its biscuit products was "likely to deceive and confuse customers".
It also alleged that the packaging threatened to irreparably harm Mondelez and its brands.
The company is hoping for a court order that would stop Aldi selling the products and monetary damages.
In the lawsuit, Mondelez displayed side-by-side photos of multiple products.
For example, Aldi's chocolate sandwich biscuits and Oreos both have blue packaging, with images of the treats arranged in similar orientations.
The supermarket's Golden Round crackers and Mondelez's Ritz crackers are packaged in red boxes with a breakout blue field with yellow lettering.
Mondelez said it had contacted Aldi on numerous occasions about "confusingly similar packaging."
It alleged Aldi discontinued or changed the packaging on some items but continued to sell others.
Aldi has not yet publicly responded to the case and did not respond to requests from multiple US news outlets.
Aldi, which was founded in Germany, keeps prices low by primarily selling products under its own labels.
It's one of the fastest-growing grocery chains in the US, with more than 2,500 stores in 39 states.
In Australia, there are currently 600 Aldi stores.
Yes.
Aldi has faced multiple lawsuits around its packaging and brands around the world.
Last year in Australia the company Hampden Holdings and Lacorium Health Australia sued Aldi Foods for breach of copyright in relation to children's food products.
Hampden licenses intellectual property to Every Bite Counts which sells children's food products under Baby Bellies, Little Bellies and Mighty Bellies which are sold in Australia.
In 2018 and 2019, Aldi engaged the company Motor Design to re-design the packaging for its baby food and product range.
The case found that in April 2019, Aldi instructed Motor Design to reuse the Little Bellies brand as the "benchmark" for the re-design of the packaging for the Mamia dry food range.
Court documents compare the packaging on both brands showing similar names of products, images and colours.
Aldi was found liable for copyright infringement for its puff products, which are three of the eleven products Hampden raised.
However, Aldi was found not liable for the other products' branding such as rice cakes.
Included in evidence were emails between the supermarket and design firm which discussed the similarities between the new design and its "benchmark".
"Unfortunately I have received feedback that this particular artwork is too close to our benchmark, I understand we are now on V5 of artwork rounds," it read.
A post-it note from the design first said "Aldi have now had legal come back to them and state this design is too close to the benchmark — no shit!"
The supermarket no longer sells products with that packaging and has appealed the federal court's ruling in Hampden's favour.
Separately, Aldi won a federal court appeal in 2018 against a deceptive conduct ruling over haircare products brought against the supermarket chain by Moroccanoil Israel.
In the UK, an appeal court ruled in favour of a cider company called Thatchers, which sued Aldi over design similarities.