Chobani hits back at Danone in trademark infringement case

USA – Chobani has fired back at Danone in a highly-publicized trademark infringement lawsuit by claiming the global food and beverage giant is weaponizing trademark law against a superior competitor.

Chobani urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Danone, the parent of rival U.S. yoghurt brand Dannon, claiming it copied packaging and the “Bright & Mellow” slogan for a competing line of ready-to-drink cold brew coffee.

In a filing in Manhattan federal court, Chobani said it made fair use of bright and mellow. It called the words generic terms that describe flavors that coffee drinkers might expect and cannot be trademarked.

Chobani also said consumers could use Bright & Mellow to distinguish that variety of STOK coffee from Bold & Smooth and Extra Bold varieties. It said there was no evidence that consumers associated the phrase with Danone.

“The term ‘Bright & Mellow’ simply tells consumers that the La Colombe product is a bright and mellow coffee,” Chobani said. “Danone’s lawsuit is an opportunistic attempt to weaponize trademark law against a superior competitor.”

Danone sues Chobani over cold brew branding dispute

Recently, Danone filed a federal lawsuit against Chobani, accusing the dairy and beverage company of copying the tagline and packaging of one of its top-selling cold brew coffee products.

In the complaint filed in the USA District Court of New York, Danone alleges that Chobani engaged in knowing, calculated and systematic trademark infringement after it rebranded its La Colombe cold brew product with the same ‘Bright & Mellow’ slogan.

The suit goes on to claim that Chobani also redesigned its bottles to resemble the STōK packaging in a strikingly similar way.

“Not only did Chobani adopt a trademark that was exactly the same as the unique and distinctive BRIGHT & MELLOW trademark used by Danone in connection with ready-to-drink cold brew coffee products, but it significantly altered its product packaging at the same time to more closely match Danone’s distinctive packaging as well,” Danone stated.

Danone claims that these changes are likely to confuse customers when the products are displayed side by side and, as such, is seeking an injunction to stop Chobani from using the name or similar packaging to the STōK product.

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