Peet’s Coffee ‘tricks’ customers with fake Splenda, lawsuit claims

Peet’s Coffee Splenda lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Heartland Consumer Products LLC and TC Heartland LLC filed a lawsuit against Peet’s Coffee Inc. 
• Why: Heartland, the maker of the artificial sweetener Splenda, claims Peet’s confuses its customers into thinking it carries Splenda, allegedly violating Heartland’s trademark rights and damaging its reputation. 
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in Virginia federal court. 

The makers of sucralose-based artificial sweetener Splenda claim Peet’s Coffee is offering its customers a knock-off version of its product without permission and misusing its Splenda mark. 

Plaintiff Heartland Consumer Products argues Peet’s has unfairly and unlawfully violated its trademark rights to Splenda by “deceiving customers into believing the Peet’s coffee shops carry SPLENDA® tabletop sweeteners.” 

Heartland claims Peet’s, in reality, is providing customers with sweetener with active ingredients manufactured in China, thereby damaging Heartland’s “hard-earned reputation” and “whittling away at the value of its trademark.” 

“Consumers who request SPLENDA by name deserve the real thing. Defendant’s misconduct deprives those consumers of their choice of product, as well as the choice to not ingest a cheaper, Chinese manufactured product,” the Splenda lawsuit states. 

Heartland claims it used “qualified private investigators” in 2022 and 2023 to find how Peet’s was representing its Splenda product, with the investigation allegedly revealing “a concerning pattern and practice” of misrepresenting non-Splenda sweeteners as genuine Splenda. 

“What these investigations revealed was indisputable, unequivocal evidence of intentional misrepresentation of sucralose sweetener as genuine SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener when it was not,” the Splenda lawsuit states. 

Peet’s Coffee confuses customers into thinking it is offering them genuine Splenda, says suit

Heartland argues Peet’s has failed to properly train its employees to properly represent that the sweeteners they offer are not genuine Splenda, and further confuses its customers by allegedly offering yellow-packaged sweeteners, a color the company argues is known-for. 

“The presence of yellow-packaged sweetener not sourced from Plaintiffs and available for consumption at Defendant’s stores only serves to increase the likelihood of confusion present in Defendant’s customers,” the Splenda lawsuit states.

Heartland claims Peet’s is guilty of unfair competition and violating Common Law Trademark Infringement and Federal Trademark Infringement, among other things. 

The company is demanding a jury trial and requesting injunctive relief along with an award of actual, statutory, punitive and treble damages. 

Heartland filed a separate complaint against Dr. Susan S. Schiffman in August over claims she spread falsehoods and made false scientific claims about Splenda, including that ingesting it  can cause cancer. 

Have you been given an artificial sweetener that was misrepresented as Splenda? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Kevin D. Holden of Jackson Lewis PC and Jonathan G. Pola of Ta’ Stettinius & Hollister LLP.

The Peet’s Coffee Splenda lawsuit is Heartland Consumer Products LLC, et al. v. Peet’s Coffee, Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-00819, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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