Utah's cookie war heats up in court – and on social media

There's a warfare going connected successful Utah – not implicit authorities oregon drugs – but cookies.

Crumbl Cookies, which has much than 300 stores successful 36 states, has declared warfare connected smaller competitors Dirty Dough (six stores successful Utah and Florida) and Crave (nine stores successful Utah and Florida.) And it's mounting societal media ablaze.

"Are cookies truly worthy suing over?" asked a TikTok user. For the founders of Crumbl, the reply is yes.

The lawsuits started flying successful May, erstwhile Crumbl separately sued Dirty Dough and Crave, claiming successful portion that some brands' "packaging, decor and presentation" is "confusingly similar" to its own. Crumbl filed the suits successful Utah, wherever it's headquartered.

Dirty Dough fired backmost with commercials mocking Crumbl.

In one advertisement, a large SUV pulls up adjacent to a kids' lemonade stand. A radical of men leap out, telling the kids to "shut down the full operation." A young miss replies, "Are you crazy, why?" To which helium responds, "Cause you're selling cookies – that's our thing." 

Dirty Dough besides launched a billboard run successful Utah, including 1 that read: "Cookies truthful bully – we're being sued!"

"It's a silly situation," said Dirty Dough laminitis Bennett Maxwell, "and it's conscionable like, OK, we're gonna person immoderate amusive with it."

He added: "Just ideate pizza companies doing to each other, right? Like sending pictures of a pepperoni pizza, putting them successful a lawsuit, and accidental 'Look, your pepperoni pizza looks mightly akin to mine'."

The co-founder of Crave, Trent English, besides believes Crumbl's accusations are half-baked. 

"Our branding is achromatic and gold. [Crumbl's is] pinkish and black. Their logo is … a cook wearing a hat. Ours is 2 overlapping cookies," English said. "I don't truly spot immoderate disorder astatine all. I deliberation astir radical tin archer america isolated conscionable fine."

Founded successful 2017, Crumbl – which has 6 cardinal followers connected TikTok and 3 cardinal followers connected Instagram – has reviewers that complaint its cooky flavors that are released each week.

In the lawsuits, the institution claims the 2 different cooky makers stole its thought to merchandise caller flavors each week.

"They don't privation america to bash rotating flavors," Bennett said. "Because I mean, you know, they invented that – the quality to rotate and person it for a constricted clip connection – seemingly Crumbl invented it 5 years ago."

Dirty Dough's laminitis told CNBC that since the lawsuits were filed, societal media astir the "cookie wars" has been large for concern – with income doubling.  Meanwhile, Crave says the institution has seen a 50% leap successful income since Crumbl sued. 

CNBC interviewed Crumbl co-founders Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley successful 2021 astir their booming business. At the time, Hemsley told CNBC: "I person to pinch myself each day, due to the fact that we speech astir sprinkles implicit the league table. And – and pinkish frosting." 

After the lawsuits were filed, CNBC reached retired to Crumbl for a response. However, the founders turned down a petition for an interrogation and alternatively sent a connection implicit email, which work successful part: "Crumbl has taken ineligible enactment against 2 companies for commercialized formal and trademark infringement, 1 of which had stolen Crumbl recipes and commercialized secrets."

Maxwell, the Dirty Dough founder, denied stealing Crumbl's recipes. "Just look astatine our cooky again, you can't get a much antithetic product, you tin sensation it and it's truthful overmuch different," helium said.

Crumbl whitethorn look a precocious ineligible hurdle.

"It whitethorn beryllium pugnacious for Crumbl to amusement that consumers mistakenly judge that the defendant's cookies are coming from Crumbl," said Dyan Finguerra-Ducharme, a trademark lawyer and spouse astatine Pryor Cashman successful New York. She has nary transportation to the case. 

"Crumbl came up with a large thought – a full concern model, which [is] rotating cookies each week, delivering them lukewarm successful a container that fits the cookies snugly," Finguerra-Ducharme said. "The occupation is that Crumbl's thought is not protected by intelligence spot law."

So, could the lawsuit spell to a jury?  

"It could beryllium dismissed by showing a justice that arsenic a substance of law, these marks don't look alike," Finguerra-Ducharme told CNBC.

"And if the marks don't look alike," she added, "that's wherever the cooky crumbles."