Lawsuit Filed by Trader Joe’s Against Own Union for Copyright Infringement

Grocery store chain Trader Joe’s has filed a lawsuit against its union, Trader Joe’s United, for copyright infringement, arguing that the branding on the union’s merchandise is too similar to the brand’s own logo.

On July 13, two attorneys in the San Francisco office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the California-based chain on five counts of trademark infringement and unfair competition at the state and federal levels. The news of the lawsuit was first reported by Vice.

In the lawsuit, which was reviewed by SFGATE, the company argues that the union operates a website selling merchandise, such as tote bags and apparel, using its logo without permission. The famous Trader Joe’s logo is red and features a display of food and drink above the brand name in a particular typeface. The union merchandise also features a red circular logo and similar typeface, but inside the circle is a fist holding what appears to be a box cutter. Trader Joe’s believes it is “likely to cause consumer confusion” and is demanding that the union’s profits from its merchandise belong to Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s does not allow any third party, including its union, to use the trademark for profit.

The union began selling these items in order to self-fund the independent organizing effort, Vice reported. 

“I think this is ridiculous,” Seth Goldstein, a lawyer at Julien, Mirer, Singla and Goldstein, who represents the union, told Vice. “There is no way that you can confuse Trader Joe’s United with Trader Joe’s, especially since this is a labor union context. And to deprive the employees [from being] able to use their logo and to be able to fundraise from that logo, really deprives their right to engage in collective action.”

All of the images of the union merchandise cited in the lawsuit mention the union.

Trader Joe’s, which did not immediately return an SFGATE request for comment, believes that “injunctive relief is necessary to remedy the harm to Trader Joe’s and prevent further infringement of Trader Joe’s rights,” according to the lawsuit. Not all of the items on the union’s merchandise website bear resemblance to the brand, and Trader Joe’s is not seeking relief when it comes to those items.

In 2022, Trader Joe’s employees began trying to unionize in major cities across the country. In New York City, two stores, one in Williamsburg and the other in the Lower East Side, tried to unionize but did not receive the necessary votes to do so.

Goldstein told Vice he did not yet know if the case would go to trial.