US Supreme Court rejects Kroger challenge to Grubhub trademark win

Just Eat Takeaway.com NV

10/06/2024 14:47

By Blake Brittain
       WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court
declined on Monday to consider supermarket chain Kroger's  KR.N 
request to block Grubhub's use of the food-delivery company's
fork-and-knife logo based on allegations that it would cause
confusion with the Kroger meal-kit service Home Chef's logo.
    The justices turned away Kroger's appeal of a lower court's
ruling that Grubhub's logo was not similar enough to Home Chef's
to justify granting an injunction prohibiting its use due to
alleged marketplace confusion. Grubhub is a subsidiary of
Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway.com  TKWY.AS . 
    Just Eat Takeaway.com changed Grubhub's logo to resemble its
own logo, a silhouette of a house with a fork and knife in the
center, after buying the Chicago-based company in 2021. 
    Cincinnati-headquartered Kroger, the biggest grocer in the
United States by revenue, sent Grubhub a cease-and-desist letter
based on Home Chef's logo, which also features a fork and knife
inside of a house silhouette.
    Grubhub sued in Illinois federal court later in 2021,
seeking a declaration that it did not violate Kroger's trademark
rights. Kroger responded with a request for a preliminary
injunction against Grubhub using its new logo.
    A magistrate judge said consumer confusion was likely enough
to justify an injunction against Grubhub, but U.S. District
Judge Charles Norgle disagreed and rejected Kroger's request.
The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed
Norgle's decision last year.
    "We do not see how a consumer interacting with the Grubhub
House Logo could reasonably believe that she was engaging with
Home Chef, particularly where the accused mark prominently
features Grubhub's own brand name," Judge John Lee wrote for the
7th Circuit.
    Kroger told the justices that its case illustrated how
courts analyze the risk of consumer confusion in "starkly
different, subjective ways," creating "incomplete, unbalanced,
and unpredictable trademark infringement decisions."
    

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Will
Dunham)
 ((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713;))