On May 27, 2025, Mondelez International, Inc. sued Aldi, Inc. for “use of private label product packaging that blatantly copies and trades upon the valuable reputation and goodwill ” of Mondelez. See 25-cv-05905 now pending in the Northern District of Illinois. The Four Count Complaint for Federal Trade Dress Infringement, Federal Trademark Dilution, Unfair Competition, Dilution, provides this comparison between Mondelez’ and Aldi’s products:

Private label (aka store brand) products often copy elements of the national brands packaging, to convey a message of equivalence and to invite comparison, but sometimes the private label can go too far. What the Norther District of Illinois will have to sort out is whether Aldi has gone too far with its packaging.

Mondelez will have to show that Aldi’s packaging infringes Mondelez’ trade dress — that combination of non-functional packaging features that consumers rely upon to find the products they want. Mondelez’ burden may be made more difficult by Aldi’s modus operandi. As reported on foodindustrynetwork.com “Aldi dominates in private-label share for grocery, household, and health and beauty products, which account for more than three-quarters (77.5%) of its total sales, Numerator’s private-label trend tracker shows. Roughly 90% of the items in Aldi’s stores are own brands.” (https://foodindustrynetwork.com/aldi-leads-in-private-label-volume-growth/) In an environment where 90% of the items are Aldi’s brands, is any Aldi customer really confused about what they are getting?

If Aldi’s chose to convey its message of equivalence with different packaging with a written “Compare to” message would Mondelez be any less unhappy? Yes, there are similarities in the packages, but we will have to wait to see whether Mondelez can show that Aldi’s has gone too far.