Van Leeuwen Wins $23.8 Million Trade Dress Judgment Over Pastel Ice Cream Pints
Packaging alone can be worth tens of millions of dollars. In Van Leeuwen Ice Cream LLC v. Rebel Creamery LLC (No. 1:21-cv-02356, E.D.N.Y., 16 July 2026), a New York federal court held that Rebel Creamery intentionally copied Van Leeuwen's packaging. It ordered Rebel to redesign its pints and to disgorge $23.785 million in profits, according to an analysis published by Finnegan on 7 October 2026.
What was protected
Van Leeuwen did not rely on its name or logo. It claimed the overall look of its pints: single-colour cardboard tubs with matching lids, a mostly pastel palette, black script lettering with an oversized capital letter, and a minimalist design. The court assessed these elements as a whole. It found the combination arbitrary and therefore inherently distinctive, while noting that cardboard tubs alone would not be protectable.
Rebel argued that colour coding for flavours is functional. The court disagreed, pointing out that some pastel shades did not match flavours at all, such as purple for chocolate fudge brownie.
Confusion and intent
The court treated ice cream as an impulse buy and rejected the argument that keto shoppers are especially careful. It relied on a survey showing net confusion of 34.3%, along with reports of confusion among shoppers and grocery staff. It found the similarity too close to be a coincidence and noted that Rebel produced no development documents for its packaging dated before the final design.
The profits award was cut by one-third from $35.5 million to reflect demand driven by Rebel's keto positioning. Finnegan reports that Rebel has since appealed and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Utah, which stays collection for now.
Lessons for brand owners in Indonesia
Indonesia's Law No. 20 of 2016 on Marks protects registered marks, and a product's overall get-up is usually argued through passing-off principles or through registration of the label as a device mark. We are not aware of an Indonesian decision awarding damages on this scale for packaging alone. Brands should register their key label designs, keep dated design files, and record market confusion when it happens, because evidence of this kind won this case.
Sources
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