Rebel Creamery filed Chapter 11 after a judge ordered it to pay $23.8M for copying Van Leeuwen's packaging. The ice cream maker listed $10M-$50M in assets and debts.
Ice cream maker Rebel Creamery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday in Utah, less than a month after a federal judge ordered it to pay $23.8 million to rival Van Leeuwen for copying its packaging.
The Utah-based company, which sells low-carb Rebel Ice Cream at Walmart, Target and Kroger, listed assets and debts each between $10 million and $50 million in its filing with the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah, The Street reported.
The bankruptcy follows an Aug. 12 appeal by Rebel challenging the $23.8 million judgment. The company filed for protection two days later.
US District Judge Eric Komitee ruled in July that Rebel intentionally copied Van Leeuwen's packaging – pastel-colored, monochrome pints with matching lids, black script lettering and a minimalist look. He ordered Rebel to stop selling the infringing design and to turn over profits from the offending pints.
"The evidence at trial left no doubt that Rebel infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen's trade dress and did so intentionally," Komitee wrote. "As a result, Rebel will be enjoined from selling the infringing products and required to redesign its packaging to avoid any further infringement."
The judge rejected Rebel's argument that its founders had never seen Van Leeuwen's packaging. Komitee said the company's testimony about the design process was fabricated and that the similarity was unlikely to have happened by chance.
Van Leeuwen sued Rebel in 2021. Rebel's pints began appearing in grocery stores in 2018, two years after Van Leeuwen introduced its current look. A Van Leeuwen employee discovered the copycat packaging later that year or in early 2019, according to court documents.
Van Leeuwen was founded in New York City in 2008 by brothers Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O'Neill. The company started with a yellow ice cream truck before opening its first shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in 2010. It now operates roughly 100 scoop shops across the US.
Both brands posted some of the strongest year-over-year growth among ice cream companies in 2025, according to Instacart data reported last month.
Rebel was founded in 2017. Its stock market analysis page shows an Alpha Score of 51 out of 100, labeled Mixed, in the Energy sector – though the company's primary business remains ice cream production, not energy.
The bankruptcy filing does not immediately affect Rebel's retail presence. The company continues to sell its products while the court oversees the case. A hearing on the bankruptcy petition has not yet been scheduled.
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