Chicago-based Mondelēz recently filed suit in federal court against Aldi, a German supermarket chain with 2,400 locations stateside, alleging that the packaging of its private-label brand cookies and wheat crackers “blatantly copies” the major brand’s packaging. So similar in design, color, typeface are snacks selling under Aldi brand names Benton’s and Savoritz that they’re “likely to deceive customers,” Mondelēz’s filing alleges.

Even the trade names feel half a step away from the originals, such as Nabisco’s Wheat Thins and Savoritz’s Thin Wheat.

However the court ultimately rules in this one, the dynamic operating here is nothing new in the branding realm. It’s not that minor brands can’t come up with packaging that’s distinctive enough—it’s that cloning the market leader’s is faster, cheaper and probably effective. If only at first.

Aldi’s move “is the oldest trick in the private label playbook—ride the coattails of a national brand’s equity to fool consumers into making a purchase,” said John Tanner, global director of Chase Design Group, which has designed packaging and visual identities for leading brands including Morton salt, Nestle and Mr. Clean.

“But just because it is common does not make it clever,” added Tanner, who’s not surprised that Mondelēz has sent its lawyers after the supermarket chain.

This isn’t the first time that Aldi’s been accused of copycatting the trade dress of household-name brands. Last year, an Australian court found the chain guilty of copyright infringement for store-brand packaging that looked too much like a snack called Baby Bellies. Aldi’s product featured a lookalike font, graphics and even a similar-looking paunchy bird for a mascot.

Tanner believes that Aldi’s playing a foolish game. Sure, some consumers might mistake its snacks for Mondelez products and buy them—once, if not more than that.

“Mimicry does not build brand loyalty—it simply borrows someone else’s,” he said. “The most effective private-label brands are not imitators. They are brands in their own right, built around customer insights and designed to stand for something.”