{"id":102800,"date":"2025-06-02T13:33:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T11:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/?p=102800"},"modified":"2025-06-02T12:35:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T10:35:25","slug":"mondelez-sues-aldi-usa-for-alleged-packaging-imitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/mondelez-verklagt-aldi-usa-wegen-angeblicher-verpackungsnachahmung\/","title":{"rendered":"Mondelez sues Aldi USA for alleged packaging imitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US subsidiary of German discounter Aldi is facing a lawsuit from snack company Mondelez International. The allegation is that Aldi's own-brand products deliberately imitate the packaging design of well-known Mondelez brands such as Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Wheat Thins and Ritz in order to deceive consumers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Illinois on 27 May, Mondelez accuses Aldi of undermining the distinctiveness of its brands and confusing consumers by imitating the packaging designs. The lawsuit covers seven products, including Aldi's own brands such as \u201eThin Wheat\u201c (similar to Wheat Thins), \u201ePeanut Butter Creme\u201c (similar to Nutter Butter) and \u201eOriginal Chocolate Sandwich Cookies\u201c (similar to Oreo). Mondelez submitted comparative photos to the court, which are said to show striking similarities in colouring, layout and imagery.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mondelez emphasises that Aldi has already been made aware of the problematic similarities on several occasions. Although some products have been adapted or removed from the range, others are still being sold with almost identical designs. The company is now demanding compensation and a court ban on the further sale of the products in question.<\/p>

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Packaging for Benton's Original Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, produced by Aldi's own brand. (Photo: ALDI USA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aldi USA, based in Batavia, Illinois, has not yet publicly commented on the allegations. The company is known for its business model, in which the majority of its product range consists of low-priced own brands that are often based on well-known brand products.<\/p>\n

Relevance for the German market<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

The principle of \u201elookalike\u201c products is also widespread in Germany: Discounters and supermarkets offer private labels whose packaging designs and product names are strongly reminiscent of established brands. This practice is legally controversial and repeatedly leads to disputes between brand manufacturers and retail chains.<\/p>\n

The current lawsuit in the USA could have a signalling effect and reignite the discussion about the limits of permissible imitation in packaging design here in Germany too.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aldi USA is the focus of a lawsuit by Oreo manufacturer Mondelez: the accusation is that the packaging designs of its own brands are being copied. In Germany, too, discounters often rely on brand borrowings - the legal grey area remains controversial.","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":102801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","rank_math_description":"Mondelez verklagt Aldi USA wegen angeblicher Nachahmung von Verpackungen bekannter Markenprodukte.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"Mondelez","rank_math_title":"","csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[58816,58757,59549,32,60586,60744],"class_list":{"0":"post-102800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-packmittel-und-packstoffe","8":"tag-aldi","9":"tag-gesetze-und-verordnungen","10":"tag-mondelez","11":"tag-packmittel-und-packstoffe","12":"tag-pj_home","13":"tag-usa","14":"cs-entry","15":"cs-video-wrap"},"acf":[],"vimeo_video":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}