Trader Joe’s grocery chain sues the eponymous DEX

The American grocery chain Trader Joe’s has filed a trademark infringement suit against the DEX Trader Joe over a ‘too similar’ name. The report comes from Blockworks.

The firm accuses the platform and its co-founder Cheng Chi Lu of intentional identity theft. Lawyers say the exchange crafted a backstory around an imaginary ‘Trader Joe’, closely linked to the supermarket brand.

The suit also alleges that the exchange’s logo copies the original’s color palette. In the illustration, the DEX depicts a farmer wearing a red cap, while the supermarket chain uses simply the wordmark in the same color.

According to court documents, co-founder Lu is a Chinese citizen residing in Singapore. He is listed as the owner of the domain traderjoexyz.com.

The plaintiff claims that during an in-person deposition, representatives of the platform attempted to conceal the origin of the branding and of the character itself.

«The defendants did not seek or obtain permission from Trader Joe’s to name their platform after Trader Joe», the statement says.

Lawyers say that using the well-known trademark allows them to profit from the broader reputation of the grocery chain for commercial gain.

According to Token Terminal, Trader Joe launched in 2021 by an anonymous team and operates on the Avalanche blockchain as a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange. The project was initially a fork of SushiSwap.

DEX developers consistently use pseudonyms, including within the company.

«Concealing one’s identity from both outsiders and from each other in everyday business dealings signals an intent to avoid detection, undermine the legal process, and act without legal consequences», said the product company’s lawyers.

The original Trader Joe’s seeks from the court an official injunction forbidding the exchange from using the corresponding trademark and imagery. The firm also requests the return of the domain name and damages to cover any additional losses.

In November 2021, the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien—the author of The Lord of the Rings—won a victory in a dispute against the creator of the JRR Token. He was ordered to remove infringing content and pay court costs.

In 2023, the creator of the Grumpy Cat token based on the meme featuring the ‘grumpy cat’, Glauber Contessotto was accused of copyright infringement.