Mondelēz Demands Vegan Brand Pull Snowball Product in Trademark Fight
Cadbury and Toblerone owner Mondelēz has sent a legal letter to small vegan brand Moo Free over its White Choccy Snowballs product.
Mondelēz International, the corporate giant behind Cadbury and Toblerone, has escalated a trademark dispute against Moo Free, a small vegan chocolate brand, demanding it pull a seasonal product from retail shelves ahead of the holiday period.
The confectionery conglomerate sent a formal legal letter to Moo Free alleging trademark infringement over the brand's White Choccy Snowballs — a gluten-free product consisting of biscuit-flavoured rice balls coated in dairy-free white chocolate. Mondelēz contends the use of the word "snowball" in the product name infringes on its intellectual property rights tied to its own Mini Snow Balls line.
Read more Bolivian Amazon Town Transformed by Chinese Mining Surge →
The dispute pits one of the world's largest food companies against a niche vegan producer whose products cater to consumers with dietary restrictions. Moo Free's snowball offering is specifically formulated to be free of dairy and gluten, targeting a customer base that has limited options within the traditional confectionery market, particularly around the festive season.
Trademark disputes involving generic or descriptive seasonal words — such as "snowball" — can be legally complex, as courts often weigh whether a term has acquired a sufficiently distinctive commercial identity to warrant exclusive protection. The outcome could have broader implications for smaller specialty food brands that rely on common seasonal language to describe their products.
The full extent of Moo Free's response to Mondelēz's legal demands has not yet been reported. Continue reading at Business | The Guardian.
