Pepperidge Farm Sues Trader Joe's Because It Too Made A Cookie
from the c-is-for-court-costs dept
You learn quite a bit writing for this site. For instance, did you know that Milano cookies aren't a style of cookie, but are rather an actual trademarked name of a dessert from Pepperidge Farm? I didn't. Yes, the two biscuit cookies with a layer of chocolate in between, which most of us ignorant fools just call a cookie sandwich, is jealously protected by Pepperidge Farm. Case in point is the company's lawsuit against Trader Joe's for selling what it claims is an infringing cookie.
Pepperidge Farm is calling out Trader Joe’s for allegedly being some kind of cookie monster, claiming in a new lawsuit that the grocery company is infringing on its trademark for selling a cookie that it says is a ripoff of its Milano cookie. By selling a product called Crispy Cookies, Trader Joe’s is damaging Pepperidge Farm’s goodwill and confusing shoppers, according to the lawsuit reported by Reuters. Though Trader Joe’s cookie is more rectangular, it has rounded edges, “mimicking an overall oval shape,” the lawsuit says. The grocery chain also uses similar packaging, the complaint claims.Yeah, about that packaging. The claim that they're similar? Yeah, that's not actually true.
The differences in trade dress abound, from the colors to the specific shapes of the packaging, not to mention that clearly labeled Trader Joe's logo on its product. Claims that the packaging was designed to look like Pepperidge Farm packaging are clearly not true. As for the trademark claim on the cookie itself? Look, when it comes to the trademark protections of food items, these things are really specific. Recall that in the EU there was an attempt to trademark Kit Kat's shape, which was specific enough to require four bars with the exact shape that Kit Kats are sold in...and even that was recommended to be rejected by the EU. In this case, the shapes of the cookies are different, the types of filling are slightly different, and the actual type of cookies used in each are different (the Milano is a vanilla wafer cookie, and the Trader Joe's product is just a plain old cookie). So, different ingredients and different shapes. Where is the trademark violation?
It's worth noting as well that Milanos first appeared as a cookie in the 1950s, yet Pepperidge Farm only got the trademark on the cookie in 2010, which seems to undercut the theory that its only with this trademark that it could survive in the first place. It seems unlikely that anyone is going to Trader Joe's and thinking they're buying something from Pepperidge Farm. Given the weakness in the other areas of the claim, I'd expect this suit to meet a quick end.
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Filed Under: cookies, milano, trademark
Companies: pepperidge farm, trader joe's
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"We don't need you to give us a bad reputation, we can do that ourselves!"
If by 'goodwill' they mean 'goodwill towards Pepperidge Farm from it's customers', selling a similar cookie isn't likely to do that. You know what would however? Going legal over something this stupid, showing that Pepperidge Farm is the kind of company that has no problem threatening competing companies for ludicrous reasons.
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Re: "We don't need you to give us a bad reputation, we can do that ourselves!"
1. friendly, helpful, or cooperative feelings or attitude.
2. the established reputation of a business regarded as a quantifiable asset, e.g., as represented by the excess of the price paid at a takeover for a company over its fair market value.
I don't think they know the definition of goodwill. I assume they are invoking definition #1, but their actions destroyed their 'goodwill.'
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Re: "We don't need you to give us a bad reputation, we can do that ourselves!"
Which is the whole point, of course: When a company makes a mediocre product and sells it dear, there's room for another company to make something a bit better and sell it less expensively. To steal customers from the first company. Isn't competition a bitch?
But wait: "Let's file a trademark lawsuit...make them stop competing!"
The new American competitive model: IP lawsuit. Companies run by people too dumb to compete in a "free market", using the government to crush competitors.
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well sue the entire planet then!
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Rounded Corners!
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Re: Rounded Corners!
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Re: Re: Rounded Corners!
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Re: Rounded Corners!
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Pirate Joe's
After suing a small Canadian shop named Pirate Joe for trademark infringement (and promptly losing) Trader Joe's can hardly play the victim this time around.
https://whereshouldistart.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/nigger-joes-tar-soap.jpg
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Re:
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Not to mention ...
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Re: Not to mention ...
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Re:
(https://youtu.be/r2QVjp4KEjU)
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The annoying thing is that boycotting a brand doesn't always pan out when the 3 or so brands on the shelf are the same company and or factory. How many remember the cough remedy shortage and loss of 80% of the shelf stock when one plant shut down for. ... reasons.
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Re:
Exactly. Many retailers' house brands are manufactured by the same companies that make the known brands. Even if not if the house brand claims to be equal to a known brand (CVS & Walgreens' house brands being good examples) chances are the manufacturer is licensed by the known brand to use it's patent/copyright/trademark-(s).
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Re: Re:
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Common use?
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Confued by potato chips
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Does PF claim trademark on all shapes?
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Re: consumer confusion
You know, the giant double door they built on the front of the building with the large concrete pathway leading up to it?
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Similar Packaging
/s
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Dear Pepperidge Farms
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Re: Dear Pepperidge Farms
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Who files these suits?
Who are the lawyers who file such a suit? Either:
1) The lawyer is paid too much money to think for himself and simply does what the client says, even if knows they have no case. If this is true, the lawyer should be fined for an ethics violation.
2) The lawyer doesn't know any better and he actually thinks the client has a case. If this is true, the lawyer should be disbarred until he learn the law a little better.
In either case, why aren't we going after the lawyers for filing these cases? As usual, as long as the accusing company doesn't face any punishment, they'll keep pushing their lawyers to file these kinds of cases.
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Re: Who files these suits?
By whom? The other lawyers he's helping to make rich? Not likely.
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Cookies
Someone point out a store that sells both Pepperidge Farm and Trader Joe's?
Also: They're nothing alike. The packaging is not alike, etc.
Or as a cashier at Trader's told me last week "We're selling a HELL OF A LOT of these cookies!!"
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