By Blake Brittain

July 17 (Reuters) - Brooklyn-based ice cream company Van Leeuwen has convinced a New York federal judge that competitor Rebel Creamery owes nearly $23.8 million for violating its trademark rights by using packaging that is confusingly similar.

U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee said in a ruling on Thursday that Rebel purposely copied Van Leeuwen's branding, and ordered it to redesign its ice cream pints.

Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision on Friday.

Artisanal ice cream maker Van Leeuwen sued Utah-based Rebel in a Brooklyn federal court in 2021. The lawsuit said that Rebel, which sells low-sugar ice cream, mimicked its distinctive branding of a pastel-colored monochrome pint design with the company's name in contrasting black cursive script.

"In fact, the only perceptible difference between the Van Leeuwen Trade Dress and the Rebel Trade Dress is Defendant’s inclusion of the number of carbohydrates" in its pints, Van Leeuwen's complaint said.

Rebel denied the allegations and said that its founders had never seen Van Leeuwen's packaging when they designed its cartons.

Komitee said on Thursday that Rebel's packaging was close enough to Van Leeuwen's to confuse potential buyers and infringe its trademarks. The judge also noted that some consumers and industry professionals had actually been confused by Rebel's similar packaging.

Komitee also said that Rebel had acted in "bad faith" in adopting its branding.

"To be blunt, their testimony concerning the development of Rebel’s packaging was clearly fabricated," Komitee said. "The likelihood of all these design features converging at random is infinitesimal."

The case is Van Leeuwen Ice Cream LLC v. Rebel Creamery LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No. 1:21-cv-02356.

For Van Leeuwen: Amy Gregory and Elisha Barron of Susman Godfrey

For Rebel: Jessica Caterina of Moses & Singer and Timothy Getzoff of Holland & Hart