Someone’s cookie is about to crumble.
In a lawsuit filed this week in Chicago, snack-food maker Mondelez International – which makes such treats as Nutter Butter and Oreo sandwich cookies – is suing the Aldi supermarket chain.
According to The Associated Press, the suit alleges that the packaging of Aldi’s store-brand cookies is a “blatant copy” of Mondelez products.
The lawsuit claims 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.
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, according to the AP report.
Aldi’ has faced lawsuits over its packaging before. Last year, the AP wrote, 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.
In filing the suit, Mondelez said 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.
