Danone is filing a lawsuit against Chobani, arguing that the company has copied the slogan and packaging colours of Danone’s ready-to-drink cold brew coffee line and infringed on its trademarks.
As reported by Reuters, Chobani is accused of replicating Danone’s STōK-brand coffee packaging for its own La Colombe line – a move Danone describes as “knowing, calculated, and systematic” trademark infringement.
Danone says it started using its ‘Bright & Mellow’ slogan in January 2021 to differentiate its brand from products by Starbucks and La Colombe, which was then an independent brand.
Chobani went on to buy La Colombe in December 2023, at which point it is said to have changed the cold brew coffee’s on-pack slogan to ‘Bright & Flavorful’.
The packaging was also altered to describe the product as a ‘light roast’ rather than a ‘medium roast’, according to the lawsuit.
Danone believes the redesigned packaging is likely to confuse consumers, especially those in a rush. La Colombe’s packaging is feared to “cause severe and irreparable harm to Danone and the goodwill it has built up in the Bright & Mellow mark over the past four and a half years.”
Making its complaint in Manhattan’s federal court, Danone seeks an injunction to prevent Chobani from selling misleading products, compensate for lost profits, and repay triple damages.
This case is similar to Mondelēz International’s lawsuit against Aldi, which alleges that several of the retailer’s private-label products are designed to emulate Mondelēz brands like Oreo, Ritz Crackers, Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins, Nutter Butter, Nilla Wafers, and Original Premium Saltine Crackers.
Aldi’s lookalike packaging is “likely to deceive and confuse customers” and could “dilute the distinctive quality of Mondelēz’s unique product packaging”, Mondelēz argues.
In response, Melanie King, litigator in the Intellectual Property Group at Armstrong Teasdale, walked us through the legal definition of trade dress infringement and dilution. She went on to suggest that dilution cases can be difficult to win due to the requirement of demonstrating the ‘copied’ product’s level of fame – but she suggests that, if Mondelēz succeeds, it may have wider implications for retailers’ own-label products.
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