Rebel Creamery Files Bankruptcy After $23.8M Loss to Van Leeuwen

Utah-based Rebel Creamery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 14, 2026, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah, just two days after it filed an appeal against a major court judgment. The filing comes less than a month after a federal judge ordered the company to pay nearly $23.8 million in profits to rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream over a dispute involving packaging design.

US District Judge Eric Komitee ruled on July 16, 2026, that Rebel Creamery intentionally infringed on Van Leeuwen's protected trade dress. The judge found that Rebel's pastel-colored ice cream pints with black cursive branding were similar enough to Van Leeuwen's packaging to confuse customers. He ordered Rebel to stop selling products with confusingly similar packaging and to redesign its pints. Judge Komitee also ordered the disgorgement of $23.785 million in profits from Rebel's sales of the infringing products. The amount was reduced from an initial calculation because the court determined that factors unrelated to the packaging, such as demand for keto-friendly products, contributed to some sales.

The court rejected Rebel's defense that its founders had not seen Van Leeuwen's...