Wide Ocean and Reach-All sue Family Food Distributors over GRAN ECUADOR tuna marks after a 2023 settlement

The complaint

Wide Ocean, LLC and Reach-All Corp. v. Family Food Distributors, Inc. and Family Food Ecuador S.A. Famodecsa, No. 2:26-cv-14460 (D.N.J.), is a 21-page complaint filed November 6, 2026, with a jury demand. Wide Ocean is a New Jersey limited liability company with a place of business in Jamaica, New York. Reach-All is a New York corporation with a place of business in Jamaica, New York. The complaint alleges, on information and belief, that Family Food Distributors is a New Jersey corporation with a place of business in Kearny, New Jersey, and that Famodecsa is a sociedad anónima organized under the laws of Ecuador and an affiliate of Family Food Distributors. It says Famodecsa is a party to, and bound by, the settlement agreement at issue.

The marks

The complaint asserts the VAN ECUADOR word and design marks and a Van Ecuador trade dress used with canned tuna, and it says Wide Ocean owns the brand and has granted Reach-All exclusive rights to use the marks for importation, marketing, and sale in the United States. USPTO TSDR shows Registration No. 3,465,992, a stylized VAN ECUADOR design, as live on the Principal Register, registered July 15, 2008, owned by WIDE OCEAN LLC, and renewed, for tuna fish in Class 29. The complaint says Wide Ocean filed a declaration of incontestability for that design mark on October 23, 2022, which the USPTO acknowledged on November 28, 2022, and TSDR lists a Section 15 filing received October 23, 2022 and acknowledged November 28, 2022. The complaint says the VAN ECUADOR word mark was registered on November 21, 2023, as Registration No. 7,222,245. The complaint describes the trade dress as including a dark blue background, the VAN ECUADOR design in white next to a red ribbon with the term TUNA, a second red ribbon with the phrase SOLID PACK IN OIL, an image of tuna on lettuce with a tomato, a tab symbol bearing EASY OPEN, and three lines in the colors of the Ecuadorian flag.

The accused mark is GRAN ECUADOR, used with canned tuna. USPTO TSDR shows Registration No. 7,181,832, GRAN ECUADOR in stylized letters, as live on the Principal Register, registered October 3, 2023, owned by Family Food Distributors, Inc., for canned seafood and canned tuna fish in Class 29. Its TSDR history lists an express abandonment request received June 29, 2023, before the registration issued. TSDR also shows Registration No. 6,714,111, a stylized GRAN ECUADOR mark, as cancelled under Section 7 because the registrant surrendered it, with a status date of March 1, 2024, and Family Food Distributors, Inc. listed as owner, for coffee, processed oats, and oat flakes in Class 30.

The settlement and the alleged breach

The complaint says a June 23, 2023 settlement agreement and mutual release resolved an earlier trademark action in the same court, No. 2:23-cv-01323. It says that, in exchange for dismissal of that action, the defendants promised to immediately and forever cease all uses of the GRAN ECUADOR trademark and trade dress in connection with canned tuna throughout the world, to cease all use of the GRAN ECUADOR trademark in connection with any food products within 60 days, and to abandon or surrender every application and registration for the GRAN ECUADOR trademark throughout the world. It says GRAN ECUADOR-brand canned tuna was being offered for sale at a supermarket in Hollywood, Florida in October 2026, and it alleges, upon information and belief, that the defendants have continued to manufacture, import, distribute, or sell GRAN ECUADOR-brand canned tuna in the United States since the settlement. It alleges, upon information and belief, that the defendants filed a request for express abandonment of the U.S. application on June 29, 2023, that the application matured to registration anyway as Registration No. 7,181,832, and that the defendants have not surrendered that registration. It says the defendants took steps toward withdrawing or surrendering Mexican and Ecuadorian filings named in the complaint, but that none of those steps has yet been given effect and each filing remains active of record. It says the plaintiffs gave written notice of breach on October 8, 2026, and that the defendants did not respond.

The claims and the prayer

The First Count pleads breach of the settlement agreement. The Second Count seeks specific performance of that agreement. The Third Count pleads federal trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114. The Fourth Count pleads trade dress infringement, false designation of origin, and unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). The Fifth Count seeks cancellation of U.S. Registration No. 7,181,832 under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1119 and 1064. The Sixth Count pleads New Jersey common-law unfair competition. The Seventh Count pleads unfair competition under N.J.S.A. §§ 56:4-1 and 56:4-2. The complaint asks the court to enforce paragraphs 1 and 2 of the settlement agreement; to enjoin use of the GRAN ECUADOR trademark and trade dress and of the VAN ECUADOR marks; to require a recall and, under 15 U.S.C. § 1118, delivery for destruction of products bearing the GRAN ECUADOR trademark or trade dress; to direct the Director of the USPTO, under 15 U.S.C. § 1119, to cancel Registration No. 7,181,832 and to order the defendants to surrender that registration and complete abandonment of the foreign filings; to require the defendants to identify under oath the source of the accused products and the persons they have sold them to since the settlement; to require a sworn compliance report under 15 U.S.C. § 1116(a); to require an accounting and an award of profits, damages, and enhanced damages up to three times the amount found under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a); to award compensatory and consequential damages for breach of the settlement agreement; to award damages, including treble damages, under N.J.S.A. § 56:4-2; to award attorneys' fees and costs under the settlement agreement and 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a); to award pre- and post-judgment interest; and to award other relief.