11th Circ. Revives Edible Arrangements TM Suit

The Eleventh Circuit reinstated Edible Arrangements’ trademark infringement suit against 1-800-Flowers, ruling that a lower court had wrongly found the case barred by res judicata. A three-judge panel reversed U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert’s decision, which had held that a 2016 settlement between the two companies — reached after a 2014 Connecticut suit over fruit bouquet trademarks — also covered 1-800-Flowers’ post-settlement practice of buying keywords tied to Edible’s products for search ads; the panel found each instance of post-settlement keyword bidding constituted a new, unreleased claim rather than a continuation of prior conduct, and it also revived Edible’s breach-of-contract claim, which Calvert had dismissed without addressing on its merits. The case was remanded to Georgia federal court, and Edible Arrangements’ attorney Edward A. Bedard called it a “decisive win” affirming that 1-800-Flowers cannot avoid scrutiny for its post-settlement use of Edible’s marks. Summarized from reporting by Law360, October 24, 2025.