Management at Grocery Outlet has said that despite Save Mart’s plan to reintroduce the Lucky name at some 70 of its stores in Northern California – units that it acquired from Albertsons last year – it intends to continue pursuing its legal case claiming ownership of the Lucky name.
"Grocery Outlet will not abandon our right to the LUCKY name," said Eric Lindberg, Grocery Outlet’s co-CEO. "We will respect the court and wait for the final decision before we proceed with our own plans to open LUCKY stores …We believe we will prevail at trial. Should we win, of course we would require all infringing uses to stop."
This battle goes back more than a year, to when Grocery Outlet used the Lucky banner on one of its newly renovated stores in Rocklin, California, saying that because Albertsons hadn't used the name for six years it no longer had legal rights to the name. Grocery Outlet cited federal law, saying that companies that do not use trademarked names for three years then lose exclusive rights to those trademarks.
A federal judge in San Francisco denied Albertsons a temporary restraining order that would have kept Grocery Outlet from using the name, but then another court agreed with Albertsons’ argument that it never intended to abandon the Lucky brand/
Grocery Outlet is appealing.
"Grocery Outlet will not abandon our right to the LUCKY name," said Eric Lindberg, Grocery Outlet’s co-CEO. "We will respect the court and wait for the final decision before we proceed with our own plans to open LUCKY stores …We believe we will prevail at trial. Should we win, of course we would require all infringing uses to stop."
This battle goes back more than a year, to when Grocery Outlet used the Lucky banner on one of its newly renovated stores in Rocklin, California, saying that because Albertsons hadn't used the name for six years it no longer had legal rights to the name. Grocery Outlet cited federal law, saying that companies that do not use trademarked names for three years then lose exclusive rights to those trademarks.
A federal judge in San Francisco denied Albertsons a temporary restraining order that would have kept Grocery Outlet from using the name, but then another court agreed with Albertsons’ argument that it never intended to abandon the Lucky brand/
Grocery Outlet is appealing.
- KC's View:
- We have no idea how the legal case will turn out, but one thing seems absolutely clear to us – the old Albertsons regime completely screwed up in abandoning the Lucky brand and format. Just another example of how that company’s old management was arrogant and out of touch with what shoppers seemed to want.
