Supermarket chain Aldi is being sued for “alleged” copyright breaches by organic snack food brand, Little Bellies.
According to The Australian Financial Review, Hampden Holdings – which owns the intellectual property for the Baby Bellies, Little Bellies and Mighty Bellies snack ranges and licenses the brands to Every Bite Counts – said the supermarket chain “ripped off” its Organic Blueberry Puffs, Carrot Puffs and Apple & Cinnamon Puffs since August 2021.
A claim filed by Hampden in the Federal Court last year said B&B Studio was employed to design the brand, visual identity and packaging for the Bellies range of products.
The first Blueberry Puffs artwork – which was created in October 2021 – was assigned a copyright to Every Bite Counts with a date of August 2018.
“Respondent knew or reasonably should have known that the owner of the rights of the author of any of the Blueberry Puffs work, Apple and Cinnamon Puffs work, or Carrot Puffs work have not authorised the reproduction of any of these works,” a statement said.
Lance Scott of Gestalt Law, a boutique patent and trademark attorney, said his client Every Bite Counts had “invested heavily” in creating the original artworks for the brand.
“Every Bite Counts naturally wishes to protect its valuable intellectual property. There is no comparison of trademarks.”
He described the case as “novel” in Australia and added the “critical issue” is copying.
In defence, Aldi denied the copyright breach but acknowledged the packaging for its products was made without a licence. It has also filed a cross-claim against Hampden.
Senior IP legal expert Katrina Rathie said the company took the copyright route because “there was no case of trademark infringement” and it is more than likely that Aldi gets to change its packaging and get a deal out of this claim.
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