The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal of an action brought under the Lanham Act by Trader Joe’s Co. against Trader Joe’s United, a labor union; vacated the district court’s order awarding attorneys’ fees; and remanded for further proceedings.

Trader Joe’s alleged that the union sold products that infringed on Trader Joe’s federal registered trademarks because they were likely to cause consumer confusion and dilute the trademarks. The district court disagreed and granted the union’s motion to dismiss the complaint with prejudice for failure to state a claim.

Reversing the dismissal of the trademark infringement claim, panel held that, viewing the allegations in the light most favorable to Trader Joe’s, the district court erred when applying the fact-specific likelihood-of-confusion test articulated in AMF Inc. v. Sleekcraft Boats, 599 F.2d 341 (9th Cir. 1979). The panel concluded that the strength of the marks, the relatedness of the parties’ goods, and the similarity of the marks weighed in favor of Trader Joe’s, and the other five Sleekcraft factors were neutral. Accordingly, this was not one of the rare trademark infringement cases in which there was no plausible likelihood that a reasonably prudent consumer would be confused about the origin of the goods allegedly bearing the Trader Joe’s distinctive marks.

The panel held that the district court erred in dismissing Trader Joe’s trademark dilution claim under the nominative fair use doctrine without providing Trader Joe’s an opportunity to respond or applying the requisite three-factor test.

The panel also held that the district court prematurely concluded that the Norris-LaGuardia Act barred it from granting injunctive relief in this matter without further development of the record or the parties’ positions. The Act prohibits courts from issuing injunctions in any case “involving or growing out of a labor dispute,” but it was not clear whether the trademark infringement claims and the nature of the injunctive relief sought by Trader Joe’s related to or grew out of the parties’ labor dispute.

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/09/08/24-720.pdf