I just noticed the Juantonitos instead of Juanitas thing in the store tonight. And I felt like I was being gaslit. Like a Bearenstien bears gag. When did that happen? I would have thought I would have heard about it because they’ve got a factory in the next town over.
It’s been a slow changeover since 2022 when they lost a trademark dispute with another company that owned the name “Juanita’s” trademark and also made Mexican food.
The website even got updated with the new name, which is a mashup of the names of the original Juanita and her husband Antonio. I personally love the new name, I think it’s sweet.
Sasser, one of the founders of Untitled Goose Game publisher Panic, followed up with the answer in a few days, via a post from The Trademark Lawyer: California-based Juanita’s Foods, a maker and distributor of canned Mexican food products, had filed suit in federal court this August against Juanita’s chips parent company Dominguez Family Foods, alleging it was violating the terms of an agreement to use “Juanita’s” only on products sold in the Pacific Northwest (defined as Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming).
“Plaintiff could have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit and shut down Dominguez” in the late 1980s, the lawsuit claims. “Instead, Plaintiff gave Dominguez the benefit of the doubt. It offered Dominguez an opportunity to continue using the Juanita’s mark, subject to very specific restrictions that were intended to avoid any consumer confusion between their brands.”
Thanks for the info. I’m stoked that they didn’t get buried by the lawsuit. They employ a lot of people in my community and their Chilipeño chips are the bomb!
That’s a very generous assumption for a company whose “flavoured, uhhh, triangles” can’t pass the legal threshold of the word “chip” or “snack”, let alone “tortilla”.
That part I was unaware of. Can you provide evidence for this, because a quick search only surfaces that they were sued for not actually including natural lime flavor in the “hint of lime” chips. They were extensively referred to as “tortilla chips” in those articles. I have yet to find anything saying that they don’t meet the legal definition of “tortilla chip.”
EDIT:
They’re still described as tortilla chips, just not on the front of the bag. The ingredients are literally just corn, oil, salt, and added flavoring on the flavored ones. I don’t know how that “doesn’t meet the legal definition.”
Ingredients lists aren’t tightly regulated? Most of these chips only have three ingredients listed: Corn, Oil, Salt. That’s from the bag of Restaurant Style.
I think you’re just reaching, there’s not a lot of evidence to support your assertion. There wasn’t much to support my assertion either, which is why I think @juliebean@lemm.ee had the right answer.
Helps to make sure you’re talking to the right person.
Read my first comment again, not sure where you’re getting the idea that I think they do not meet the legal definition of tortilla chip? They probably do, but I have no idea one way or the other.
Forgive me, that is my fault, I thought you were the person I was originally responding to. My apologies. I did not mean to put words in your mouth and that’s totally on me.
People who read into product labels as if they’re secretly discovering that we’ve all been being fed sawdust and Soylent green instead of real food this whole time are like the sovereign citizens of marketing.
“KFC changed their name because there is no chicken in it anymore and they’re get in trouble legally! It’s just breasts grown in a lab genetically!”
Wouldn’t this make them lose their trademark (or whatever the appropriate term is) because it goes into commom use? I swear that happened with another company
EDIT: Actually I think @juliebean@lemm.ee figured it out. Link to their comment.
EDIT II: Please upvote their comment instead of mine, thank you.
Tostitos is a brand so it may be a branding thing and attempt to distance themselves from actual tortilla chips?
They want you to say Tostitos, not “tortilla chips” because to them their brand messaging matters more than your reality.
“Hun can you pick up a bag of tortilla chips?”
“Hun can you pick up a bag of Tostitos?”
The purpose is to get you saying the latter without even thinking about it.
Like all facial tissue being called “Kleenex” and all internet searches being called “Googling.”
Also Juantonios (formerly known as Juanitas) fucking flames these lame chips asses. Juantonios best tortilla chip, fight me.
I just noticed the Juantonitos instead of Juanitas thing in the store tonight. And I felt like I was being gaslit. Like a Bearenstien bears gag. When did that happen? I would have thought I would have heard about it because they’ve got a factory in the next town over.
It’s been a slow changeover since 2022 when they lost a trademark dispute with another company that owned the name “Juanita’s” trademark and also made Mexican food.
The website even got updated with the new name, which is a mashup of the names of the original Juanita and her husband Antonio. I personally love the new name, I think it’s sweet.
https://www.wweek.com/restaurants/cheap-eats/2022/12/31/juanitas-chips-now-sold-nationwideas-juantonios/
https://www.juantoniossnacks.com/
Thanks for the info. I’m stoked that they didn’t get buried by the lawsuit. They employ a lot of people in my community and their Chilipeño chips are the bomb!
I mean a lot of companies are like “stop it we don’t want to be a generic trademark!” because it can cause them problems.
Is it not just a new way of distinguishing them from the round (circle) ones?
That’s a very generous assumption for a company whose “flavoured, uhhh, triangles” can’t pass the legal threshold of the word “chip” or “snack”, let alone “tortilla”.
That part I was unaware of. Can you provide evidence for this, because a quick search only surfaces that they were sued for not actually including natural lime flavor in the “hint of lime” chips. They were extensively referred to as “tortilla chips” in those articles. I have yet to find anything saying that they don’t meet the legal definition of “tortilla chip.”
EDIT:
They’re still described as tortilla chips, just not on the front of the bag. The ingredients are literally just corn, oil, salt, and added flavoring on the flavored ones. I don’t know how that “doesn’t meet the legal definition.”
Oh, no, we’re in lemmyshitpost, so I was just talking shit about the absolutely insane marketing choice to try to sell them as “triangles”.
But here we are talking about it, so fuck me, it’s working.
I wouldn’t think the website would be as highly regulated like the outside of the packaging. Maybe I’m wrong tho
Ingredients lists aren’t tightly regulated? Most of these chips only have three ingredients listed: Corn, Oil, Salt. That’s from the bag of Restaurant Style.I think you’re just reaching, there’s not a lot of evidence to support your assertion. There wasn’t much to support my assertion either, which is why I think @juliebean@lemm.ee had the right answer.Helps to make sure you’re talking to the right person.
What, I said they are regulated. Just pointing out websites aren’t regulated by the FDA
Woosh. If the only ingredients are corn, oil, salt, then how do they not meet the legal definition for tortilla chipsHelps to make sure you’re talking to the right person.
Read my first comment again, not sure where you’re getting the idea that I think they do not meet the legal definition of tortilla chip? They probably do, but I have no idea one way or the other.
Forgive me, that is my fault, I thought you were the person I was originally responding to. My apologies. I did not mean to put words in your mouth and that’s totally on me.
People who read into product labels as if they’re secretly discovering that we’ve all been being fed sawdust and Soylent green instead of real food this whole time are like the sovereign citizens of marketing.
“KFC changed their name because there is no chicken in it anymore and they’re get in trouble legally! It’s just breasts grown in a lab genetically!”
I mean, of all things, a food with three ingredients…
It’s like when you see a “cheese product”. It is kinda cheese. So these are kinda tortilla chips I bet.
That is not something either company wants. Neither does Velcro.
Wouldn’t this make them lose their trademark (or whatever the appropriate term is) because it goes into commom use? I swear that happened with another company
It happened to a number of companies. Flip Phone, Laundromat, Trampoline, Escalator… all used to be protected names.
Flip phone is news to me, so is airfryer???
There’s a couple of surprising ones in there. “Dumpster” was changed for other reasons, but I didnt know it was a name brand.
Cool link. Lots of surprising ones. Hovercraft? Linoleum? Thanks!
It’s one of my favorite Wikipedia articles. I check it out every here and then. Glad you got a kick out of it!
Don’t put your local chip maker on a pedestal, it’s such a simple food.
Anyone can make great chips using only nixtamalized corn and cottonseed oil and salt.
People are allowed to like things, you know.
I’m m sure those chips are great. I doubt they’re any better than my local chip maker.
“Don’t put your local chipmaker on a pedestal”
Does sopuli only consist of trolls?
Who’s the fool trying to gatekeep tortilla chips?