{"id":832445,"date":"2026-09-01T00:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T00:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/832445\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T00:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T00:20:17","slug":"us-judge-allows-smuckers-pbj-case-against-trader-joes-to-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/832445\/","title":{"rendered":"US judge allows Smucker’s PB&J case against Trader Joe\u2019s to proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge has ruled that J.M. Smucker<\/a> can proceed with a lawsuit<\/a> against Trader Joe\u2019s over frozen sandwiches that Smucker claims are too similar to its Uncrustables.<\/p>\n

Smucker sued Trader Joe\u2019s in federal court in Ohio last fall, claiming Trader Joe\u2019s committed a trademark violation when it introduced frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the same round shape and crimped edges as Uncrustables.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit further alleged that Trader Joe\u2019s put its crustless PB&Js peanut in packaging that too closely resembled the coloring of an Uncrustables box and featured a similar photograph of a sandwich with a bite taken out of one side.<\/p>\n

In court filings, Trader Joe\u2019s said its frozen sandwiches aren\u2019t round but shaped as \u201csquircles,\u201d or square sandwiches with rounded edges. The company said the crimped design is necessary to keep the contents inside the sandwich and Smucker, based in Orrville, Ohio, shouldn\u2019t be allowed to monopolize it.<\/p>\n

Trader Joe\u2019s also said Smucker\u2019s current Uncrustables packaging, which it only introduced in 2024, is not famous enough to meet the standards of a federal trademark dilution claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmucker reaches too far. Its sandwiches\u2019 appearance and cartoon avatar are no Nike swoosh or McDonald\u2019s golden arches,\u201d Trader Joe\u2019s said in a January court filing that asked for the case to be dismissed.<\/p>\n

But U.S. District Judge John Adams ruled Friday that Smucker had devoted significant resources to developing Uncrustables and protecting the brand over the past 20 years. Adams said customers have come to associate Uncrustables\u2019 design trademarks with the brand.<\/p>\n

The judge also declined Trader Joe\u2019s request to move the case to California, where it is headquartered and where the third-party supplier of its frozen sandwiches is also located.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press left messages seeking comment Monday with Trader Joe\u2019s and Smucker.<\/p>\n

Smucker is seeking restitution from Trader Joe\u2019s<\/a>. It also wants a judge to require Trader Joe\u2019s to deliver all products and packaging to Smucker to be destroyed.<\/p>\n

Smucker filed its case a few months after another high-profile trademark lawsuit. In May 2025, snack food maker Mondelez International<\/a> sued the Aldi supermarket chain<\/a>, alleging the packaging for Aldi\u2019s store-brand cookies and crackers \u201cblatantly copies\u201d Mondelez products like Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins and Oreos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In a July federal court filing, Mondelez and Aldi told the judge they were participating in settlement discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge has ruled that J.M. Smucker can proceed with a lawsuit against Trader Joe\u2019s over frozen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,2356,2302,793,851,25186,230266,3130,149,5843,81297,12303,6454,795],"class_list":["post-832445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-california","tag-courts","tag-general-news","tag-inc","tag-intellectual-property","tag-john-adams","tag-lawsuits","tag-lifestyle","tag-mcdonalds-corp","tag-mondelez-international","tag-oh-state-wire","tag-ohio","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}