Aldi’s Copycat Packaging: A Brand’s Worst Nightmare

Aldi, the supermarket chain known for its affordable prices, has long been accused of copying the packaging of well-established brands. The company’s use of similar designs, logos, and colors has raised concerns among brand owners and intellectual property experts.

The Copycat Cereal

In the US, Aldi’s brown boxes of Power Grain cereal are reminiscent of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. The similarity in packaging has led to a lawsuit from Kellogg’s, which claims that Aldi’s cereal is “blatant copying”. The issue of copycat packaging is not limited to cereal. In Australia, Aldi has faced several legal cases over its packaging, including a recent case where the company was accused of copying the packaging of a popular biscuit brand.

The Packaging Problem

Retail expert Gary Mortimer explains that the key reason Aldi uses similar packaging is to create visual congruence. “When we’re shopping in a supermarket, it’s historically a mundane, habitual, low-involvement decision-making context,” he says. “You walk down an aisle and you think Cadbury is purple. They [consumers] are influenced by pack color, brand name or packaging shape.”

Mortimer also notes that when a consumer sees a product similar to another brand’s, they might infer it is the same. “What the danger is, is a customer goes, ‘Well, actually, their cereal is just as good as the Kellogg’s version,’” he says. Brands themselves spend a lot of money ensuring their brand is high quality. Then a new player enters with a private label that looks very similar and, therefore, all of that positioning you’ve done with that product, the private label takes advantage of that position. Brands would be concerned about that.

The Private Label Conundrum

Professor Mortimer also notes that Aldi’s private labels are perceived as higher value than, say, the Coles or Woolworths generic-brands. “You won’t get Aldi-brand biscuits, you’ll get Belmont,” he says. In fact, they are so popular, other chains are taking a leaf out of the Aldi playbook, creating their own, cheaper, private brands. Woolworths and Coles have created private labels that sell cleaning products and pet food.

The Legal Implications

While Aldi has faced legal challenges in Australia in the past over its packaging and the likeness of its products to rivals, the University of Sydney’s Fady Aoun says it is far more challenging to take Aldi to court here. “The University of Sydney’s Fady Aoun says it is far more challenging to take Aldi to court here,” he says. “In the realm of trademark law and other forms of policing commercial practices, American law is vastly different to Australian law.”

Aoun also notes that Australia’s legal systems are vastly different to those in the US, for instance. “In the realm of trademark law and other forms of policing commercial practices, American law is vastly different to Australian law,” he says. But there are several ways legal action can be pursued.

A Case in Point

Last year in Australia, the company Hampden Holdings and Lacorium Health Australia successfully sued Aldi Foods for breach of copyright in relation to children’s food products. Hampden licenses intellectual property to Every Bite Counts, which sells children’s food products under Baby Bellies, Little Bellies and Mighty Bellies, which are sold in Australia. In 2018 and 2019, Aldi engaged the company Motor Design to re-design the packaging for its baby food and product range. The case found that in April 2019, Aldi instructed Motor Design to reuse the Little Bellies brand as the “benchmark” for the re-design of the packaging for its Mamia dry food range. The packaging and labelling were put side by side in court documents to highlight how similar each looked. “Aldi, they sail close to the wind,” Dr Aoun said. “I suspect there is a strong legal department there and that’s their business mode.”

The court found Hampden and Lacorium’s owned the packaging designs. Aldi is currently appealing against the court decision. It was approached for comment.

A Different Perspective

Separately, Aldi won a federal court appeal in 2018 against a deceptive conduct ruling over hair care products brought against the supermarket chain by Moroccanoil Israel. Dr Jane Rawlings, an intellectual property barrister, said this was harder to prove. “You have to show there is reputational goodwill in the brand, and in this purpose it is by using a similar name, brand or look that misleads consumers and that damages the goodwill of the brand because they’re being diverted to a cheaper alternative or because the brand owner is losing sales,” she said. “You have to still prove the conduct has been deceptive and what Aldi do is tread a fine line where they’ve got a lookalike brand but it’s not enough to argue consumers are being misled.”

In the UK in 2023, Cider producer Thatcher’s successfully won a legal battle against Aldi, claiming it “copycatted” its Cloudy Lemon Cider in “taste and appearance”. Dr Rawlings said she believed registering a brand as a trademark was one of the best ways to protect it. “To be honest, and if I were a brand owner trying to protect the look of packaging, I’d be looking very seriously at trademarking registration because it’s relatively cheap and then you can basically sue on the trademark registration.”

Ultimately, experts agree the impact on consumers is relatively low. “What Aldi will typically say is our consumers are not confused [and that] while they may draw inspiration from leading brands there’s no confusion people know what they’re getting,” Dr Aoun said. Definition: Copycat packaging refers to the practice of using similar designs, logos, and colors for packaging as a competitor. This can be seen as a form of trademark infringement or unfair competition.

Definition: Trademark infringement refers to the unauthorized use of a trademark by another party. This can include using similar designs, logos, or colors that are identical or very similar to a competitor’s trademark.

Definition: Unfair competition refers to the practice of engaging in behavior that is detrimental to a competitor’s business, such as using similar designs, logos, or colors to confuse consumers.

Definition: Passing off refers to the practice of using a competitor’s trademark or brand name to deceive consumers into believing that the product is from the original brand.

Definition: Reputational goodwill refers to the positive reputation and image of a brand.

Definition: Deceptive conduct refers to behavior that is intended to deceive or mislead consumers.

Definition: Trademark registration refers to the process of registering a trademark with the relevant authorities to protect the brand’s intellectual property.

Definition: Copyright infringement refers to the unauthorized use of copyrighted material, such as designs or logos, without permission.

Definition: Intellectual property refers to the rights and protections afforded to creative and innovative works, such as designs, logos, and trademarks.

Definition: Trademark law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the use of trademarks and brand names.

Definition: Unfair competition law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the practice of engaging in behavior that is detrimental to a competitor’s business.

Definition: Passing off law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the practice of using a competitor’s trademark or brand name to deceive consumers.

Definition: Reputational goodwill law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the protection of a brand’s positive reputation and image.

Definition: Deceptive conduct law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the practice of engaging in behavior that is intended to deceive or mislead consumers.

Definition: Trademark registration law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the process of registering a trademark with the relevant authorities.

Definition: Copyright infringement law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the unauthorized use of copyrighted material.

Definition: Intellectual property law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the rights and protections afforded to creative and innovative works.

Definition: Trademark infringement law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the unauthorized use of a trademark by another party.