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J.M. Smucker Co. is suing Trader Joe’s, alleging that the grocery chain’s new frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are too similar to Smucker Uncrustables in their design and packaging.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court on Monday ohioSmucker’s said round, crustless sandwiches businessman who The cells have the same pie-like crimp marks on the edges that Uncrustables have. Smucker said the design infringes its trademark.
Smucker also claimed that Trader Joe’s sandwich boxes infringe on the Orrville, Ohio-based company’s trademark because they are the same blue color it uses for the letters on “Uncrustables” packages.
Trader Joe’s boxes also feature a sandwich with a bite mark removed from it, similar to the Uncrustables design, Smucker said.
The company said in its lawsuit, “Smucker takes no issue with others in the market selling pre-packaged, frozen, thawed and eaten crustless sandwiches. But it cannot allow others to use Smucker’s valuable intellectual property to make such sales.”
A message seeking comment was left with Trader Joe’s, which is based in Monrovia. California,
Uncrustables were invented by two friends who began producing them in Fergus Falls in 1996, minnesotaSmucker’s purchased his company in 1998 and obtained a patent for a “sealed, crustless sandwich” in 1999.
But it was not easy to produce them on a large scale. In the lawsuit, Smucker’s said it has spent more than $1 billion developing the Uncrustables brand over the past 20 years. Smucker spent years perfecting Uncrustables’ stretchy bread and developing new flavors like chocolate and hazelnut.
Smucker said Trader Joe’s sandwiches were so similar to Uncrustables that they were already confusing customers. In the lawsuit, Smucker’s showed a social media photo of a man claiming to be Trader Joe’s under contract with Smucker’s to make the sandwiches under its private label.
This is not the first time Smucker’s has taken legal action to protect its Uncrustables brand. In 2022, it sent a cease-and-desist letter to a Minnesota company called Gallant Tiger, which was making improved versions of crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with crumbly edges.
Smucker’s lawsuit comes just months after a similar lawsuit by Aldi was filed Mondelez InternationalWhich claimed that the packaging of Aldi’s store-brand cookies and crackers is similar to that of Mondelez brands like Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins and Oreos.