Bad mojo: Kind sues Clif Bar for trademark infringement

Kind filed a lawsuit against Clif Bar in federal court in Manhattan seeking to prevent Clif from releasing its Clif Mojo snack bars in packaging which Kind contends mimics its bars’ unique and distinctive packaging.



According to the lawsuit, in addition to mimicking Kind’s products in its choice of flavor names, ingredient combinations and product features, the new Mojo packaging copies several key elements of Kind’s distinctive trade dress. A few of those key elements include the rectangular transparent window on the front panel that reveals a large portion of the bar itself; a horizontal stripe along the front of the packaging calling out the flavor name and description of the product line; two vertical color stripes at both ends of the bar; and a bulleted list of key health attributes set against a black background.

Kind posits that Clif’s line of Mojo snack bars have consistently lost market share to its healthy snack bars for years. As stated in the lawsuit, the new Mojo trade dress has moved farther from its original design and co-opts Kind’s.

“Clif is a long-standing and well-respected competitor in the nutritional bar marketplace, which makes this imminent release of a copy-cat product particularly disappointing,” explained Daniel Lubetzky, Kind founder and CEO.



“Kind is committed to preventing the harm to consumers and retailers that will result if the Mojo line is launched in confusingly similar packaging,” added Justin Mervis, Kind VP and general counsel. “Consumers stand to be misled by the deceptive packaging of the new Mojo bars, and retailers will suffer if sales of the top-selling Kind brand are cannibalized by an infringing product.”