Dirty Dough is proposing a countersuit against Crumbl in the #UtahCookieWars
It’s been almost a year since the Cookie Wars began.
On May 10, 2022, Crumbl Cookie submitted legal documents claiming trademark infringement, according to KSL TV 5. The company sought legal action against two cookie companies: Dirty Dough and Crave Cookie.
On Friday, Dirty Dough provided the Deseret News with legal documentation proposing a countersuit. The company filed a “motion for leave to file counterclaim,” which could give it the ability to counter-sue.
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The proposed countersuit alleges Dirty Dough has experienced “significant financial harm” because of the litigation, including loss of investors and the cost of litigation. The plaintiff (Dirty Dough) is requesting an unspecified amount in damages to be determined at court.
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The initial lawsuit filed by Crumbl in 2022 spawned what’s known as the Utah Cookie Wars.
The lawsuit focused on trademark infringement. KSL TV 5 reported, “Crumbl Cookies claims that Crave Cookies and Dirty Dough have similar logos and packaging to their own. The company alleges the two businesses are trying to profit off Crumbl’s reputation and branding.”
Dirty Dough responded to the lawsuit by putting up billboards on I-15, which said things like “Cookies so good — we’re being sued!” The legal action, billboard response as well as the emergence of competing cookie companies (aka the Utah Cookie Wars) caught the attention of national media like CNBC.
As Dirty Dough’s marketing campaign hit the headlines, Crumbl CEO Jason McGowan posted an update on LinkedIn regarding the lawsuit. He said, “Dirty Dough has stolen trade secrets from Crumbl’s internal database. An ex-employee has turned over at least 643.7 MB of information that Dirty Dough had in their possession.”
McGowan said the information included “66 Crumbl recipes” and “other proprietary information.” Dirty Dough denies these allegations and continued to drum up interest in the lawsuit via satirical videos.
On the Dirty Dough Instagram page, the company posted videos that poked fun at the initial lawsuit. But after that, there was a few months of radio silence and it seemed like the Cookie Wars were over or at least out of the public eye.
During that time, Crumbl Cookie became the official cookie of the Utah Jazz and Dirty Dough became the official cookie of Utah Valley University, per the Deseret News.
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The companies have also both announced new cookies. Dirty Dough released a caramel apple pie cookie filled with real apple filling, among other new cookies like its spring sugar cookie or its fruity crisp cookie. Crumbl came out with a Texas sheet cake cookie, which tastes like a rich chocolate cake with a fudgy top, and even announced it will be coming to Canada.
So for a while, it seemed like the #UtahCookieWars was over, but its continuation is just how the cookie crumbles.
The Deseret News reached out to Crumbl and Dirty Dough for comment.
