Mondelez International has taken legal action against Joyride, alleging the US candy company has infringed the trademarks and trade dress of its Sour Patch Kids brand.
In a complaint filed on 2 November in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the snack major claims the packaging for Joyride’s Sour Smacks line “features nearly identical copies” of the Sour Patch Kids mascot and is “intended to copy and cause confusion”.
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The Orero owner said it is not in the “business of suing” but added: “When, in an attempt to resolve this dispute, Mondelez repeatedly asked Joyride to cease this infringement, Joyride refused to stop.”
According to the court documents, Joyride initially entered the category around 2020 with a product called Sour Fruit Gummies.
After rebranding as Joyride in 2022, the company overhauled the product line in 2025 to introduce Sour Smacks.
Mondelez argues the competing candies now sit side by side on shelves across retailers such as Target, Walmart, and 7-Eleven. Because confectionery items are often bought on impulse, Mondelez contends this placement heightens the risk of “initial-interest, point-of-sale, and post-sale confusion”.
The lawsuit also points to Joyride’s promotional campaigns following its appointment of YouTube creator Ryan Trahan as co-owner and chief creative officer in 2024.
The filing highlights social media videos fronted by Trahan, including one acknowledging that Joyride “copied Sour Patch Kids’ meme format in an attempt to pass them in Instagram followers”.
Mondelez also pointed to Joyride’s $30m private-equity funding round closed in May 2025, which valued the business at roughly $100m.
The confectionery giant alleges this valuation was “inextricably intertwined with” – and “substantially bolstered” by – a strategy trading on Sour Patch Kids’ “goodwill and recognisability”.
Mondelez is seeking permanent injunctive relief to halt sales of the products, an order for the destruction of all infringing packaging and marketing materials, and monetary damages.
Joyride’s response to the lawsuit was not included in the filing. Just Food has approached PR representatives for Joyride to seek comment.
The complaint comes on the heels of separate legal action initiated by Mondelez against UK chocolate start-up Catherine’s Originals over alleged trademark infringement.
That dispute centres on Mondelez’s Toblerone brand and the O’bar line manufactured by Catherine Dodd’s vegan confectionery business.
