The cookie trademark dispute that has gripped this nation for the last few months has come to an end.
My regular readers will recall that, on December 10, 2015, I posted about the Cookie Trademark Lawsuit: Pepperidge Farm v. Trader Joe’s:
Pepperidge Farm has sued Trader Joe’s for trademark infringement, dilution, and unfair competition on the grounds that TJ’s Crispy Cookies are confusingly similar to PF’s Milanos brand cookies.
You can read that blog post for all the details on the claims.
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Well, it’s all over now. Michael Lee at morrisonlee.com reports that:
A Federal judge approved the dismissal of the case with prejudice, meaning that a similar action cannot be brought again in the future. The two sides claim that they have reached a “mutually satisfactory resolution” and other than that, terms of the settlement will not be disclosed.
I should point out that Mr. Lee titled his blog post “The Case Crumbled, Pepperidge Farms Drops Lawsuit Over Look-a-Like Milano Cookie.” Kudos to you for getting to the “cookie crumbled” joke before I could. I’m fresh out of cookie-related humor.
LAW360 attempted to reach out to Trader Joe’s, but a spokeswoman told them that “the company doesn’t comment on litigation.” So we may never know all the thrilling details of this confectionery negotiation.
Once again, however, this is a reminder to be careful about creating a product where a competitor can accuse you of copying them. Even if you’re in the right, it can be a costly fight to win.
