Trader Joe’s is committed to providing customers with a bright, upbeat grocery store experience, but it’s not very kind to those close to its intellectual property rights. The latest example is a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles by the grocery chain accusing cryptocurrency trading platform Trader Joe of infringing its trademark rights.
Registered in the British Virgin Islands and headquartered in New York, the platform describes itself as a decentralized website where cryptocurrency users can lend and borrow funds on the Avalanche and Ethereum blockchains. Trader Joe’s learned of the operation and filed a federal lawsuit last year after failing to convince the domain authority to hand over the cryptocurrency site’s traderjoexyz.com address.
this complain Accused the Trader Joe’s founder of fraudulently claiming he named the site after his brother, pointing to social media comments refuting this, writing that the site was named after “the grocery store.” The grocery chain also pointed to an image on Twitter (now X) that used an image of a produce stand.
The lawsuit also accuses the cryptocurrency site of “conducting a vandalism-based marketing campaign in Paris during Paris Blockchain Week – plastering ‘Trader Joe’ branded materials on public and private properties throughout the city.”
Still, Trader Joe’s faces some hurdles in getting the cryptocurrency site to stop using its name. First, even though the names are very similar, and the grocery chain has many trademarks registered with the USPTO, that’s not necessarily enough to win. The reason is that trademarks relate to certain categories of services, in this case cryptocurrency companies offering something very different than groceries. This means that few consumers would think that Trader Joe’s and cryptocurrency websites are the same brand.
However, there may be a stronger case for “trademark dilution,” according to Trader Joe’s Michael Keysis an intellectual property expert at Dorsey & Whitney.case told wealth With operations in 42 states, Trader Joe’s has built incredibly strong brand recognition, close to the level of Amazon or McDonald’s, which means that even if consumers aren’t confused by Trader Joe’s tarnishing its reputation, it can gain the upper hand.
“The clear intent here is to sacrifice Trader Joe’s goodwill,” Case said, adding that the grocery chain “has strong evidence of infringement, but it’s not very solid.”
Unfortunately for Trader Joe’s, even if it wins in court, it may not be enough. That’s because the company identified only one person behind the trading website – a Chinese national living in Singapore – and listed the other defendants as “John Doss.” This means the company will likely have difficulty enforcing any court victory it obtains.
According to Case, Trader Joe’s could use the order to put pressure on third-party providers doing business with cryptocurrency platforms in the U.S., such as cloud computing providers, but doing so would likely be onerous. He added that even if the lawsuit is an uphill battle, Trader Joe’s may have filed the lawsuit in part to show that it will continue to aggressively protect its brand.
In 2013, Trader Joe’s sued a company called Pirate Joe’s, which brought items legally purchased at grocery stores across the border into Canada and resold them. The Vancouver-based supplier eventually called it quits in 2017, with owner Mike Hallatt Tell guardian “When you’re a human being and you’re probably on trial by a big company – you get a lot of input from lawyers telling you: ‘Run.'”
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