Trader Joe's Is Being Sued For Allegedly Making A Knockoff Of Smucker's Uncrustables

Customers may enjoy Trader Joe's many copycats of popular snack products, but Smucker's Uncrustables doesn't see the imitation as flattery. While people love the grocery chain for lots of things, Trader Joe's has long been known for its dupes of competitors' products, like its Scandinavian Swimmers, which are quite reminiscent of Swedish Fish, and its Oreo-esque Joe-Joe's. Trader Joe's added to that category with crustless peanut butter and jam sandwiches a few months ago, immediately garnering comparisons to the popular Uncrustables brand. Now, The J.M. Smucker Company, which owns Uncrustables, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Trader Joe's has infringed on its trademarks.

In the lawsuit, filed on October 13 in the District Court of Ohio, Smucker's claims "Trader Joe's Company has launched an obvious copycat." The suit says that Smucker's is not taking issue with the sale of frozen crustless sandwiches, but instead takes issue with the round crustless, crimped edges of the Trader Joe's design, which it asserts are "an obvious attempt to trade off of the fame and recognition of the Uncrustables Design Marks." The suit claims that Uncrustable's "pie-like shape with distinct peripheral undulated crimping" has been a defining feature of the brand since 1996, and that the specific design is covered by a trademark held by the company. It also claims that the specific look of Uncrustables is heavily featured in advertising by the brand, and thus "[signifies] to members of the consuming public products that come from Smucker."

Beyond the design of the sandwiches, Smucker's is alleging that Trader Joe's deliberately copied Uncrustables' branding with its packaging. The first allegation is that Trader Joe's box "marketing with a bite taken out of it on the packaging that mimics the Uncrustables Design Marks." Smucker also claims that the blue color of the Trader Joe's box is the same blue used in the Uncrustables logo, which it says it has trademark rights to.

Combined with the similar product, Smucker claims "members of the consuming public have already been deceived into believing that Defendant's product is in some way sponsored by, originates from or is affiliated with Smucker when, in fact, it is not." To support this claim, Smucker provides examples from social media of people claiming the new crustless sandwiches were made through a contract with Smucker, similar to how Trader Joe's has partnered with brands in the past.

This lawsuit comes at a time of increasing scrutiny around Trader Joe's copycat products. Last year, an investigation by Taste revealed that many smaller brands have accused Trader Joe's of deliberately copying their products after first reaching out about a potential partnership to learn about them. While copycat products have always been a simple fact of competition in the food world, Smucker's lawsuit could be the beginning of a real backlash to Trader Joe's practices, although a lot will hinge on whether it wins.