The ruling comes in the wake of a series of Trump authorizations to deploy National Guard troops to American cities including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Chicago. President Trump has said the deployments are necessary to protect the work of ICE agents, and reduce crime. On Oct. 16, a federal appeals court upheld an earlier district court ruling in Illinois, temporarily blocking the president's federalization and deployment of the National Guard deployment there. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez said the strength of the Trader Joe's name, the chain's own sale of tote bags, and the "strikingly similar" marks featuring the same red color, similar fonts and concentric circles could confuse consumers. "This is not one of the rare trademark infringement cases in which there is no plausible likelihood that a reasonably prudent consumer would be confused," Sanchez wrote.