Mondelez International, the institution down Oreo, Wheat Thins and different name-brand products, says Aldi is copying its packaging successful an effort to dupe customers into buying the supermarket chain's products.
In a national suit filed Tuesday successful Illinois, the snack institution alleges that Aldi "blatantly copies" the distinctive packaging of its brands successful bid to mislead customers into reasoning they are buying a Mondelez merchandise erstwhile they are really purchasing a store-brand version. The institution is seeking monetary damages and a tribunal bid that would forestall Aldi from selling products Mondelez says infringe connected its trademarks.
A examination of sanction marque products (top row) and the Aldi products (bottom row) that Mondelez alleges are designed arsenic look-alikes successful bid to dupe customers into buying them.
Nam Y. Huh / AP
Neither Aldi nor Mondelez instantly responded to CBS News' requests for comment.
Mondelez names a fig of Aldi products successful its suit that it alleges are look-alikes of its ain fashionable snacks specified arsenic Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins, Nilla Wafers cookies and Nabisco Premium Saltine Crackers. The institution claims the Aldi store-brand items person antithetic names but carnivore akin packaging plan elements — including font, colors, representation placement and merchandise names — to Mondelez products.
Aldi's Peanut Butter Creme Filled Cookies, for example, travel successful a reddish box, akin to that of Mondelez's Nutter Butter cookies. The achromatic publication font and cooky representation connected the packaging besides mimic the Nutter Butter packaging, the snack institution claims.
Aldi besides sells a merchandise called Thin Wheat, which successful summation to the astir synonymous sanction to Nabisco's Wheat Thins, has a akin plan to the Mondelez product, including a yellowish background, the connection "original" and crackers pictured connected the bottommost fractional of the box, the suit says.
Nabisco Wheat Thins (left) is 1 of respective name-brand snacks whose packaging Mondelez claims is being "blatently"copied by Aldi to instrumentality customers into buying store-brand versions.
AP Photos/Nam Y. Huh
The trademark suit is not the archetypal for Aldi, which been called retired galore times implicit its products' packaging. Earlier this year, a U.K. appeals tribunal ruled successful favour of Thatchers, a cider company, which sued Aldi implicit plan similarities successful the packaging of its citrus cider.
Mondelez is 1 of the worlds largest multinational nutrient companies, with a footprint successful implicit 150 countries. Aldi, a U.S.-based company, has implicit 2,500 locations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mary Cunningham is simply a newsman for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the concern and concern vertical, she worked astatine "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 arsenic portion of the CBS News Associate Program.
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