Trader Joe’s Appeals Dismissal Of Its Bullshit Trademark Suit Against Its Employees’ Union

There's that old saying that goes something like: when you've dug yourself into a hole, the very first thing you have to do is stop digging. Or, if you're Trader Joe's, you tell the foreman to hold your beer and grab the shovel to get back to work. Last summer, the grocer decided to take its own employees' union to court, claiming that the union's sale of merchandise that includes the name of the company was somehow trademark infringement. The claim never made much sense, given that all the merch is clearly labeled as coming from the union and not Trader Joe's itself, the trade dress is fairly different anyway, and, oh by the way, this merch is only available through the union's website. When the court dismissed the suit months later, it did so with a ruling that pointed all of this out in a fairly fiery manner.

Which should have been the end of this whole thing. The company should have gone back to its business, maybe find more creative ways to fuck with its own employees rather than abusing trademark law, or maybe even start behaving like human beings in realizing that none of this was a good look when it comes to public relations. Instead, Trader Joe's has decided to appeal the dismissal, keeping all of its horribleness in the news for a little bit longer.

Trader Joe'sis asking a federal appeals court to reverse a judge's scathingdismissalof thegrocery storechain company's lawsuit that allegedtrademark infringementby an employeelabor unionin selling merchandise on its website.

The appeal, filed Thursday, comes nearly a month after the judge accused Trader Joe's of trying to weaponize the legal system to gain an advantage in an ongoing labor dispute" against theTrader Joe's Unitedunion.

Keep in mind that all of this is happening as the NLRB filed its own complaint against the grocery chain for its unfair labor practices. One of those practices highlighted was retaliating against workers for trying to organize. You know, like keeping up this meddlesome trademark infringement farce just to be a pain in the ass, since the company undoubtedly has more of a legal war chest to work with than a fledgling union.

Now, I don't expect this appeal to work, but that is almost tangential to the overall point. The company is harming its own reputation with its customers and potential future employees. And it is apparently allowed to do so with little to no risk of any actual negative consequence for tying the union up in court with lawsuits it absolutely knows to be insincere at best.

This is going to continue until some authority is granted the fangs it needs to put a stop to this sort of thing.