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Australian family brand says Full Court decision is a win for brand owners and businesses investing in original creative work.
SYDNEY, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Australian-founded baby and toddler snack brand Little Bellies has welcomed a significant Federal Court appeal ruling in its long-running copyright case against supermarket giant ALDI, with the Full Court not only upholding the original findings of infringement but extending them to a further two ALDI products.
The decision follows Little Bellies’ landmark 2024 Federal Court victory, which found that three products within ALDI’s MAMIA toddler snack range infringed copyright in Little Bellies’ packaging designs.
ALDI appealed those findings, while Little Bellies lodged a cross-appeal arguing that the original judgment should have extended to additional products within the MAMIA range.
The Full Court has now upheld the infringement findings in relation to the original products and found that two further ALDI products also infringed Little Bellies’ copyright, taking the total from three to five.
The Court also upheld the finding that ALDI was liable for additional damages.
Little Bellies Co-founder and Managing Director, Clive Sher, said the outcome was an important vindication not only for Little Bellies, but for brand owners that invest significantly in building distinctive intellectual property.
“We are delighted that the Full Court not only upheld the original judgment of infringement by ALDI but also extended it to five designs instead of three,” said Sher.
“Further, the Full Court upheld the award of additional damages, finding that ‘ALDI could have used any packaging of its own design, but chose to emulate the Hampden Works for its own benefit’. It deliberately courted a risk to obtain commercial advantage.“
“We regard this as a vindication for brand owners who invest considerably in their brand equity.”
The case began after ALDI redesigned its MAMIA toddler snack range, with evidence in the original proceedings showing Little Bellies had been used as a benchmark during the design process.
In the original 2024 judgment, Justice Moshinsky found that ALDI had deliberately developed packaging for its MAMIA baby puffs products that resembled Little Bellies’ packaging and had sought to use the designs of a trade rival for its own commercial advantage.
Little Bellies subsequently chose to defend that decision when ALDI appealed and launched its own cross-appeal, maintaining that the implications extended beyond the three products originally found to infringe.
Sher said the latest judgment reinforced why the company had continued to pursue the matter despite the significant time, cost and resources involved.
“From the beginning, this has been about more than Little Bellies. Small and founder-led businesses invest enormously in creating brands that are distinctive, trusted and valuable, and that intellectual property deserves protection.”
“Taking on a global retailer is not something any independent business does lightly. We pursued this because we believed the principle mattered, and we hope this decision gives other Australian brands greater confidence that their creative work and brand equity can and should be protected.”
Little Bellies was founded in Australia by brothers Clive and Steven Sher and has grown from an independent family business into a leading baby and toddler snack brand sold in Australia and internationally.
The matter will now return to the primary judge for the determination of damages.
