In a suburban Aldi somewhere in Australia, a shopper picks up a tub of butter labelled “NORDPAK” with the word “spreadable” above it.
The packaging is silver with a white lid, the font soft and familiar. But it’s not LURPAK. Not quite.
Welcome to the age of the dupes; a world where brand mimicry has moved from the back alleys of counterfeiting into the bright lights of mainstream retail. While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, it is also the most commercially perilous.
On 27 May 2025, Mondelez, owner of Oreo, Ritz, Chips Ahoy! and other household names, filed a lawsuit against Aldi in the United States alleging the discount grocer’s private-label products mimicked its packaging as to “deceive and confuse” consumers. Side-by-side comparisons presented in court show Aldi’s lookalike sandwich biscuits, crackers and snacks, styled in blues, reds and golds, almost indistinguishable from the originals. Mondelez called it a deliberate strategy to trade off its goodwill.
This is not an isolated skirmish. In the UK, cider maker Thatchers succeeded before the Court of Appeal, and it was held that Aldi’s Taurus Cloudy Lemon Cider packaging intentionally rode on the coattails of Thatchers’ cloudy lemon cider, constituting trademark infringement.
In Australia, Aldi had a setback in December 2024 with the Federal Court ruling that Aldi’s Mamia puff packaging had infringed the copyright of the previous Little Bellies design. In that case, Aldi had used its rival’s packaging as a design “benchmark”.
These cases reveal a deeper issue for global food brands. Trade dress has become the new battleground, and copycats are outpacing brands and the law.
Read more by Aparna Watal, trade marks expert and Partner at Halfords IP in the latest issue here
