A Trademark Lawyer’s Analysis of the Van Leeuwen vs. Rebel Creamery Trademark Dispute

As a trademark lawyer, I spend a lot of time urging business owners to properly protect their brands and businesses. But protecting your brand doesn’t start with filing a trademark application, it starts with doing your due diligence before you launch.

The case involving Van Leeuwen and Rebel Creamery is an excellent modern-day example of why understanding trademark law, and conducting a proper trademark search before investing in a brand, is so important for business owners.

When you have a strong brand design, there’s a good chance that others will like it too, and that  can lead to other brands copying yours. This case will show you exactly how to handle something like this happening to your business, and what the legal side of things entails. 

Van Leeuwen vs. Rebel Creamery: What Happened

If this is the first time you’re hearing about the dispute between Van Leeuwen and Rebel Creamery, here’s what you need to know: both are ice cream brands, with Van Leeuwen launching in 2008 and Rebel Creamery launching in 2017.

In 2016, Van Leeuwen underwent a major rebrand, including a completely redesigned visual identity. The brand sought legal protection for elements of its overall presentation through trade dress, essentially, the distinctive look and feel of a brand.

The new design helped strengthen Van Leeuwen’s brand recognition, with its monochromatic cartons, pastel color palettes, and distinctive thick script font becoming closely associated with the brand. When Rebel Creamery launched its products in grocery stores a year later, its packaging incorporated several elements that Van Leeuwen believed were too similar.

In 2021, Van Leeuwen filed a lawsuit against Rebel Creamery, alleging that Rebel’s packaging infringed Van Leeuwen’s trade dress. Because the dispute involved the overall appearance and presentation of the packaging, not simply a logo, font, or brand name, the case centered on trade dress, a form of trademark protection that can extend to the distinctive overall look and feel of a product or its packaging.

Van Leeuwen was able to trace back an entire paper trail through the creation of their brand design: everything that they chose not to go with, internal communication, why they chose the colors they did, and the strategy behind their packaging. Rebel Creamery, on the other hand, had none of that, and that was the true game-changer in the case. 

Ultimately, in July 2026, Van Leeuwen prevailed in the dispute. A federal judge ordered Rebel Creamery to pay approximately $23.8 million in disgorged profits and required the company to redesign its packaging to avoid infringing Van Leeuwen’s protected trade dress. Rebel later appealed the decision and, in August 2026, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

What started with packaging that looked a little too similar ultimately turned into a multimillion-dollar legal judgment and a bankruptcy filing.

How You Can Prevent Disputes Like This in Your Business

Even if you’re a small or local business, something like this can happen to you. There are a few things I always recommend, especially for new business owners, to ensure that something like this doesn’t destroy the business you worked so hard to build. 

Check for Registered Trademarks and Similar Brands

Before you create a brand name, brand design, or make any legal moves in your business, I always recommend that you check the USPTO to be sure that you’re not overstepping on any other brand’s trademarked elements. When working with a web, brand, or graphic designer, make sure they do their homework, especially when it comes to trade dress, brand identity, and intellectual property rights. Designers should conduct thorough research into existing brands, products, packaging, website layouts, color schemes, typography, logos, imagery, and overall visual presentation to ensure the proposed design does not infringe on another business’s protected identity or create a likelihood of consumer confusion. 

Do not rely solely on inspiration boards, competitor examples, or a designer’s assurance that a concept is original. Require due diligence, document the creative process, verify the originality of key design elements, and identify potential conflicts before investing in development, production, or launch. When necessary, consult an intellectual property attorney to assess trade dress risks and determine whether the proposed design is sufficiently distinctive.

If you’re working with a web, brand, or graphic designer, share any existing trademark research with them before they begin creating your brand identity. This can help you avoid investing time and money into a design that may ultimately need to be changed. A great brand designer may even ask whether you’ve secured your brand name and whether you’ve done your due diligence before moving forward with a specific logo or brand design. 

If you’re wondering how to avoid trademark infringement, you can check out my guide here. 

Register for TrademarksYou can see my list of everything you should trademark in your business, but know that any asset of your brand that can be, should be protected under the law. That’s something that I am always here to help you create a strategy for as a trademark lawyer. 

Keep a Paper Trail of Everything

If there’s one major thing that the Van Leeuwen vs. Rebel Creamery case taught us, it is to keep record of everything when you’re starting your business, from your naming process to your branding design process. Being able to prove how you got from point A to point B could save you headaches in the long run, so it is something that I will always recommend. 

Lane Law | Trademark Lawyer

If this dispute has made it clear that you need to create a full trademark strategy for your brand, you can book a call with me here, and I’ll help you figure out next steps.