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Trader Joe’s is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a judge’s harsh dismissal of the grocery chain’s lawsuit alleging trademark infringement by an employee union in the sale of goods on its website.
The appeal, filed Thursday, comes nearly a month after the judge accused Trader Joe’s of attempting to “abuse the legal system to gain advantage in an ongoing labor dispute” against the trade union Trader Joe’s United.
Trader Joe’s, a company attorney and a spokeswoman for Trader Joe’s United did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the company’s filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The union, which currently represents Trader Joe’s employees at two stores in Hadley, Massachusetts and Minneapolis, is pushing for negotiations and representation of employees at other stores, something the company refuses to do.
Trader Joe’s sued the union in federal court in Los Angeles in mid-July last year. The lawsuit alleged that the group violated the company’s trademark rights by “manufacturing union merchandise such as buttons, mugs, T-shirts and tote bags that were sold on the union’s website,” according to Judge Hernan Vera in his The dismissal decision was made in January.
The Trader Joe’s Union logo is featured on the pins.
The lawsuit comes six days after the National Labor Relations Board filed a consolidated complaint against Trader Joe’s alleging unfair labor practices that included retaliation against workers, threats and other acts, the judge noted.
“Trader Joe’s maintains that this is a purely commercial dispute and that Union’s designs will cause confusion among consumers and dilute the Trader Joe’s family of brands,” Vera wrote.
But Vera wrote that the lawsuit is “undoubtedly related to an existing labor dispute and it beggars belief” that the complaint would have been filed without the union’s organizing efforts.
The judge wrote that the lawsuit “walks dangerously close to the line of Rule 11,” which can lead to lawyers being penalized if they take legal action for an improper purpose or the claims are not justified.
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“The Court denies Trader Joe’s request for a preliminary injunction under the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which was enacted by Congress precisely to relieve courts of the unfortunate task of issuing purportedly business-related preliminary injunctions in pending employment disputes.” , the judge wrote.
But Vera went further than just denying the company’s request for an injunction to stop the union from selling the goods.
Regarding trademark laws, Vera said there is “no likelihood of confusion from Union’s campaign-related products.”
“The logos used by the Union have a different font, do not use the distinctive fruit basket design, use concentric rings of different proportions, and are applied to products that no reasonable consumer could mistake for being from Trader Joe’s itself,” the judge said wrote.
The Trader Joe’s Union logo
Trader Joe’s
He also said that the fact that consumers would find the goods for sale on the union’s website – the only place where they are sold – “minimizes the likelihood that the public will incorrectly assume that the goods in question are with the products.” from Trader Joe’s.”
“It is simply not plausible to imagine that a reasonable consumer would go to Union’s website, purchase a Union-branded coffee cup and mistakenly believe that it was sold by Trader Joe’s,” the judge wrote.
The ruling said the impact of the union’s online merchandise sales on Trader Joe’s market was “undoubtedly” very small.
But “the potential chilling effect and other adverse effects on union members resulting from these lawsuits may be significant,” the judge wrote.
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2024-02-09 21:41:57
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