Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream has won about $23.8 million from rival Rebel Creamery after a federal judge in New York found that Rebel copied the look of its ice cream pints. US District Judge Eric Komitee ruled on 16 July, after a bench trial, that Rebel was liable for trade dress infringement, unfair competition and dilution.
The judge wrote that the evidence “left no doubt that Rebel infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress”, and found the copying was deliberate. He ordered Rebel to stop selling confusingly similar packaging and to redesign its pints.
What was copied
Van Leeuwen did not claim that Rebel used its name or logo. Its case rested on the overall impression of its pints: single-colour containers and lids in pastel shades, black script lettering, descriptive text and a minimalist layout. Rebel’s keto-focused pints were sold in pints through the same retail channels as Van Leeuwen’s, according to the Loeb & Loeb summary of the ruling.
According to a summary by law firm Loeb & Loeb, the court rejected Rebel’s arguments that the individual design elements are common in the food industry, that different brand names prevent confusion, and that its sales were driven by keto attributes rather than packaging. The remedy was the disgorgement of $23.785 million in Rebel’s profits.
Bankruptcy and appeal
On 14 August, Utah-based Rebel filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah, listing assets and liabilities each between $10 million and $50 million. Van Leeuwen appears as an unsecured creditor with a disputed $23.785 million claim. Rebel is appealing the judgment.
For supermarket brands, the colour of a lid can now carry an eight-figure price tag.
What to watch
- The outcome of Rebel’s appeal against the judgment.
- How the bankruptcy court treats Van Leeuwen’s disputed claim.
- Rebel’s redesigned packaging on store shelves.
