{"id":821824,"date":"2026-11-02T15:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/821824\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:28:09","slug":"snowball-fight-cadbury-owner-in-trademark-row-over-festive-chocolate-treat-food-drink-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/821824\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowball fight: Cadbury owner in trademark row over festive chocolate treat | Food & drink industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owner of Cadbury<\/a> and Toblerone has demanded that a small vegan chocolate brand remove its products from shelves in a trademark dispute over the use of the word snowball.<\/p>\n

Mondel\u0113z International has written a legal letter to Moo Free accusing it of trademark infringement by selling its White Choccy Snowballs \u2013 gluten-free biscuit-flavoured rice balls covered in dairy-free white chocolate.<\/p>\n

Cadbury Snowballs first launched in the UK in 1966, and have been sold in their current form as packs of Mini Snow Balls since 2023. The brand registered use of the word Snowball and Snowballs for use in chocolate confectionery as a trademark in 2001. Its Mini Snow Balls are made from Dairy Milk chocolate covered in a crispy shell of white icing sugar.<\/p>\n

The legal fight has emerged just days after Mondel\u0113z launched legal action<\/a> against another small vegan chocolate brand, Catherine\u2019s Originals, accusing it of copying the famous chunky shape of Toblerone with its O\u2019bar.<\/p>\n

Moo Free, which has products stocked in several major supermarkets and online, said it had been selling its Snowballs for about two years before Mondel\u0113z demanded it immediately remove the items from sale just ahead of the busy Christmas period.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He said he had \u201cnever even heard of\u201d Cadbury Snow Balls and was lactose intolerant so couldn\u2019t try one. He was surprised Mondel\u0113z had been so \u201cheavy-handed\u201d in its letter and questioned whether it could be possible to trademark an apparently generic term. \u201cIt\u2019s a snowball, it is not like we are making a Freddo,\u201d he said, referring to Cadbury\u2019s famous frog-shaped bar.<\/p>\n

In a letter to customers, Moo Free wrote: \u201cMoo Free takes intellectual property concerns seriously. However, we do not accept that any infringement has been established and have responded accordingly \u2026 We are disappointed to find ourselves in this position, and we stand in solidarity with Catherine\u2019s Originals as it addresses its own situation. We hope to resolve these matters appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Mondel\u0113z International said: \u201cCadbury Snow Balls are one of our most popular Christmas products, enjoyed by households across the UK. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not the UK\u2019s first snowball fight.<\/p>\n

Tunnock\u2019s and Lees of Scotland won legal action against HMRC<\/a> in 2014 after proving they did not have to pay VAT on their coconut-covered confections, as they were deemed sufficiently similar to a cake for an exemption. Snowballs made by these two suppliers \u2013 defined as \u201ca dome of marshmallow coated in any combination\u201d of chocolate, sugar strands, carob, cocoa or coconut \u2013 were subsequently given their own VAT-free status<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner of Cadbury and Toblerone has demanded that a small vegan chocolate brand remove its products from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-821824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}