Two ice cream pints. Same pastel colors. Same monochrome lids. Same oversized black cursive script. Same minimalist look.
Do you think these two look too close? ( Compare pages 5 and 8 in the link below.)
A federal judge did. And it cost Rebel Creamery $23.8 million.
Van Leeuwen sued Rebel, claiming Rebel copied its trade dress right down to the swooping capital letter and negative space. Rebel swore they never even saw Van Leeuwen’s packaging before designing their own. The judge wasn’t buying it. He called their story “clearly fabricated,” especially once it came out they had zero sketches, drafts, or early versions saved. Just the finished product. Van Leeuwen, on the other hand, had five years of design files from their rebrand: every option they rejected, every round of revisions.
Moral of the story: trade dress is real, courts take it seriously, and “we never saw it” doesn’t hold up when your packaging looks like a twin. Also, save your drafts!
Read the full 65-page decision here: Van Leeuwen v. Rebel Creamery