Ninth Circuit Brings Trader Joe’s Bullshit Trademark Suit Against Employee Union Back From The Dead

Back in 2023, Trader Joe's, the famous grocery chain, decided to sue its own employee union for trademark infringement. At issue was the merchandise that Trader Joe's United sold on its website, which all include a logo for the union that is a modified version of the Trader Joe's logo. Here's an example:

Compared with a Trader Joe's tote bag:

Sorry, none of this is either similar nor confusing to anyone. And, thankfully, the courts agreed, first dismissing the case at the pleading stage, then ordering Trader Joe's to pay six figures in legal fees to the union, even as the grocer appealed the initial decision.

And what was obvious in all of this is that Trader Joe's has zero actual concern about trademarks in any of this. This was an attempt by the company to bully its own employees' union with whatever it could find to cause problems.

Well, on appeal, the 9th Circuit brought this turd back to life, mostly for technical procedural reasons.

Trader Joe's trademark lawsuit against a union that represents a smattering of its employees is back on the menu after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday found that a district judge improperly dismissed the action.

To begin, Trader Joe's and TJU's marks are strikingly similar," U.S. Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez wrote in theruling. The name Trader Joe's' in both parties' marks uses capitalized lettering, the same red color and similarly stylized fonts, and both marks are found within concentric circles."

The Biden appointee added: The name How a reasonable consumer might interpret the image of a raised fist holding a boxcutter is a question of fact that cannot be resolved at the pleading stage."

Now, I would certainly quibble with this ruling on the merits. The judge in the original ruling went so far as to point out that this lawsuit was skirting the line on being frivolous; that's how nonsensical the claims of confusion were. Weeding out those types of suits at the pleading stage is absolutely within the court's purview. But if the 9th Circuit wants this piece of shit to go trial, go to trial it shall. I very much doubt the outcome will be any different.

But what will happen because Trader Joe's won" its appeal, is we get to re-inject the company's anti-union, anti-employee tactics right back into the news cycle. I certainly hope that the PR folks at Trader Joe's are losing their minds over this, because this has to be an absolute nightmare for them. The purposeful Streisanding of your own bad behavior into the news is, well, certainly a choice.