By Gary Symons
TLL Editor-in-Chief
The confectionery giant Mondelēz has demanded that a small, vegan chocolate maker in the UK remove its products from shelves in a trademark dispute over the word ‘snowball’.
The legal showdown pits one of the largest confectioners in the world — best known for its Toblerone, Oreo, and Cadbury brands — against a small local British candymaker called Moo Free.
A cease-and-desist letter from Mondelēz International accuses Moo Free of trademark infringement for selling its White Choccy Snowballs.
Mondelēz says the name of the gluten-free, white chocolate and biscuit-flavoured rice balls is too similar to its own product, Cadbury Snow Balls.
That product has been sold in the UK since 1966, and since 2023 has been sold under the name Mini Snow Balls. Mondelēz registered its trademark for the words Snow Ball and Snow Balls n 2001. As well, the White Choccy Snowballs do bear some resemblance to the Cadbury Snowballs, as both of them look like … well … snowballs.
Cadbury’s version of its Snowballs is made from Dairy Milk chocolate covered in a crispy shell of white icing sugar.
“Cadbury Snow Balls are one of our most popular Christmas products, enjoyed by households across the UK,” said a Mondelēz spokesman. “No legal action has been taken, but we have been in touch with Moo Free to make them aware of our trademark.
“We are open to reaching an amicable resolution.”
That may not happen, as Moo Free doesn’t agree that the shape and color of its White Choccy Snowballs constitutes a trademark infringement. In an open letter to customers, the company said, “Moo Free takes intellectual property concerns seriously. However, we do not accept that any infringement has been established and have responded accordingly.”
Moo Free has its products on the shelves of several major UK supermarkets and is also selling the product online in advance of the holiday season.
Mike Jessop, who co-founded Devon-based Moo Free in 2010 when he and his wife could not find allergen-free chocolates for Easter or Christmas, said they began selling online before being picked up by Waitrose and then other supermarkets.
Jessop says the company had been selling its Snowballs for two years before Mondelēz demanded it remove the items from sale just ahead of the busy Christmas period.
Jessop says he finds it hard to believe a generic term like Snowball can be trademarked.
“It’s a snowball, it is not like we are making a Freddo,” he said, referring to Cadbury’s frog-shaped bar that is also very popular in the UK.
Coincidentally, the warning letter comes as Mondelēz has also initiated legal action against another vegan chocolatier, Catherine’s Originals. According to the industry publication Confectionery Production, Mondelēz claims Catherine’s Originals’ ‘O’Bar’ product is very similar to the classic shape of its iconic Toblerone bar.
Founder Catherine Dodd doesn’t agree. She notes that Toblerone bars are made up of distinctive triangle segments, while her own bars are round or ‘O-shaped’, which gave the product its name, O’Bar.
“The past 24 hours have been crazy,” Dodd said in a social media post. “I didn’t even anticipate the amount of people who haven’t even heard of Catherine’s Originals before who would just leave a comment and send their support for us, and I am genuinely overwhelmed.
“We have had a lot of our VIP choco lovers ask how they can help, and where is the crowdfunding page towards this, but we don’t feel like doing a crowdfunding page is the right thing to do with this. Instead, we have created a Battle Bundle on our website – with 15% of sales from those items will go into those legal costs, and that is what is going to help us fight.”
Jessop says he too will be disputing the claim by Mondelēz.
“We are disappointed to find ourselves in this position, and we stand in solidarity with Catherine’s Originals as it addresses its own situation. We hope to resolve these matters appropriately.”
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