Trader Joe's Sued Its Union Over Tote Bags. A Judge Just Threw the Case Out.

A trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Trader Joe’s against its union over the latter’s merchandise was dismissed in its entirety on Saturday after the California Central District Court found it “obvious” that the complaint was related to the company’s attempts to dispel union activity. 

The lawsuit, filed against Trader Joe’s United in July, alleged that merchandise sold by the union looked too similar to merchandise sold by Trader Joe’s, and was therefore increasing the “likeliness of consumer confusion and impairment of the distinctiveness of Trader Joe’s famous marks.” The union sold this merchandise in order to self-fund the independent organizing effort—the complaint also demanded that the union’s profits be given to the company. 

“As a preliminary matter, the Court feels compelled to put legal formalisms to one side and point out the obvious,” the dismissal document reads. “This action is undoubtedly related to an existing labor dispute, and it strains credulity to believe that the present lawsuit…would have been filed absent the ongoing organizing efforts that Trader Joe’s employees have mounted (successfully) in multiple locations across the country.” 

“Indeed, following a tide of contentious organizing efforts and mere days after the issuance of a consolidated NLRB complaint was issued against it, Trader Joe’s filed this suit,” it continues. “This history combined with the weakness of Plaintiff’s claims leads the Court to the conclusion that this case is an attempt to weaponize the legal system to gain advantage in an ongoing labor dispute between Trader Joe’s and the Union representing its workers.” 

A Trader Joe’s spokesperson told Motherboard in an email, “Trader Joe’s consistently takes legal action to protect our brand when we become aware that someone other than Trader Joe’s is selling merchandise using our trademarks and trade dress.  We will continue to take all appropriate action to protect our brand.” 

Seth Goldstein, a lawyer at Julien, Mirer, Singla and Goldstein who has worked to represent Trader Joe’s United, told Motherboard that the dismissal was a “huge victory for labor,” and that Trader Joe’s legal counsel “should be ashamed of what they did.” 

Other companies have filed trademark infringement lawsuits against their unions since Trader Joe’s initial lawsuit in July. In October, a judge dismissed Medieval Times’ trademark infringement complaint against its union. In November, Starbucks sued Workers United, which represents unionized baristas, for trademark and copyright infringement after a branch of the union expressed pro-Palestine sentiment on social media. Workers United, in turn, sued Starbucks for defamation. 

The Trader Joe’s dismissal also states that the merchandise sold by the union is not nearly similar enough to Trader Joe’s merchandise to cause customer confusion. “The logos used by the union are in a different font, do not utilize the distinctive fruit basket design, apply concentric rings of different proportions, and are applied to products that no reasonable consumer could confuse as coming from Trader Joe’s itself,” the dismissal document reads. 

“When pressed at oral argument, [Trader Joe’s] counsel confirmed that tote bags are the only product type sold by both Trader Joe’s and the Union,” it continues.

The union first began organizing in 2022 over safety concerns, and has won store elections in Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, and Kentucky. Some subsequent elections have been unsuccessful, however, as workers say the chain has retaliated against them. The National Labor Relations Board has also found merit to multiple unfair labor practice charges filed by the union.