Nestle’s Tidy Cat Trade Dress Claims Against PetSmart Survive

On July 26, 2019, the Eastern District of Missouri sided with Finnegan client Nestle, which accused PetSmart of infringing its trade dress covering its packaging for Tidy Cat cat litter. Nestle said PetSmart’s cat litter packaging mirrors Tidy Cat by including silhouettes of cats, using the same color coding for the various types of litter, and using the same feather design on its “lightweight” cat litter packaging. PetSmart filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the packaging was just a draft and they didn’t actually use it to sell the products. The court rejected the motion, noting the accused packaging was uploaded to the PetSmart website and used for more than a week during a Black Friday sale.