Rebel Ice Cream Files for Bankruptcy After Losing $23.8 Million Packaging Lawsuit to Van Leeuwen

The Bankruptcy Filing

Rebel Creamery LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 14 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah. The filing came one month after a federal judge ordered the company to pay $23.785 million to rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. Rebel sells its low-carb Rebel Ice Cream at Walmart, Target, and Kroger stores across the country. Court documents list both assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.
Chapter 11 allows a company to keep operating while it restructures its debts. All active lawsuits against Rebel are automatically paused while the bankruptcy case moves forward.

What the Court Found

US District Judge Eric Komitee of the Eastern District of New York issued the ruling on July 16. He found that Rebel had deliberately copied Van Leeuwen’s protected packaging design. The ruling held Rebel liable under the federal Lanham Act and New York state law. The judge rejected all of Rebel’s counterclaims.
Van Leeuwen sells its ice cream in monochromatic pastel cardboard pints with minimalist designs and black cursive lettering. The court found that Rebel used a nearly identical look. The $23.785 million figure represents profits Rebel earned from selling ice cream in the infringing packaging.
Judge Komitee wrote in his order that the evidence at trial left no doubt that Rebel copied Van Leeuwen’s trade dress, and that it did so on purpose.

How the Lawsuit Started

Van Leeuwen was founded in New York in 2008 and redesigned its packaging to its current look in August 2016. Rebel Creamery was founded in September 2017 — more than a year after that redesign. Rebel’s products began appearing on grocery store shelves in August 2018. A Van Leeuwen employee spotted the similarity in late 2018 or early 2019. Van Leeuwen filed suit in April 2021. The case took more than five years to reach a final ruling.
The case was decided by a bench trial, meaning a judge made the final call rather than a jury. The $23.8 million award is one of the largest trade dress verdicts in recent consumer products history, according to legal analysts following the case.

Rebel’s Next Move

Two days before the bankruptcy filing, on August 12, Rebel filed a notice of appeal against Judge Komitee’s July order. The Chapter 11 filing gives Rebel breathing room to pursue that appeal without being forced to immediately hand over the full judgment amount. The court has also ordered Rebel to stop selling products in the old packaging and redesign its pints to avoid further infringement.
Both Rebel and Van Leeuwen had been growing at a strong pace in 2025, according to Instacart purchase data shared last month. The lawsuit has not affected Van Leeuwen’s operations.
Source: Yahoo Finance, TheStreet, IBTimes SG, Total News, Gallium Law, Shook Hardy Bacon