Қырлы жиекті, қабықсыз салмалы бутербродтар және патенттік даулар

Filled sandwich with crimp sealed bread

A sealed crustless sandwich consists of a filling between two layers of crimp sealed bread, with the crust removed. Homemade variations are typically square, round, or triangular; the bread can vary, e. g., white or whole wheat; and the sandwiches can be homemade with common crimping techniques similar to pie crust, ravioli, or dumplings using readily available kitchen tools (e. g., a fork, small spoon or curved knife end to crimp the edges). A purpose designed "cut and crimp" tool can also be used. Mass produced varieties vary in shape, are typically individually wrapped, frozen and packaged — and include proprietary brands as well as house brands. They were introduced in 1995 with peanut butter and jelly filling, followed by numerous patent and trademark disputes as well as numerous competitors entering the market. The sandwiches offer easily frozen and thawed, ready to eat, portable convenience; Ethiopian born Kamal Mohamed, founder of the Gallant Tiger brand, called sealed sandwiches "the Swiss Army knife of foods". They have appeal across generations and can easily be included in a homemade lunch. In 2018, sealed crustless sandwiches were made available to firemen during the California wildfires.

Smuckers, with $7.8 billion in net sales as of 2020, has issued cease and desist letters to any company marketing crustless sealed sandwiches in a round shape, including small businesses, arguing trademark infringement. Targeted companies have included Chubby Snacks, which markets a decidedly adult flavored product (e. g., chai spiced pear butter and peanut butter) selling at a price point roughly six times the cost of an Uncrustable. The Gallant Tiger founder noted that at a time when the company had seven sales outlets, "1,000 followers on Instagram and $20,000 in sales, and [Smuckers was] telling us that not only are we infringing on their trademark, which is a circle shaped sandwich, but we also were falsifying advertising and essentially slandering them. It was weird. It was almost like in the eyes of Smucker, [Gallant Tiger] was a criminal," adding that a consumer "can tell the difference between Domino’s and Pizza Hut [pizza] even though they’re both circular food products. So what are we really talking about here?" The patent examiner cited only seven previous patents issued between 1963 and 1998, and a 1994 book called 50 Great Sandwiches that were deemed relevant to the novelty and nonobviousness of the invention. He concluded that the invention was indeed novel and not obvious and allowed the claims.

In March 2001, during the legal proceedings, Albie's filed a request for reexamination with the USPTO asking that the patent be reexamined in light of the new prior art. The reexamination serial number is 90/005,949. In response to the new prior art cited, Smucker's narrowed the wording of their claims to only cover a very specific version of their sealed crustless sandwich. The more narrow claims, for example, only cover sealed crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches where the jelly is held between two layers of peanut butter. Nonetheless, in December 2003, the patent examiner rejected the narrowed claims in light of the new prior art. Smucker's appealed the rejection to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI). In September 2006, the BPAI reversed the examiner's reasons for rejecting the claims, but found new reasons for rejecting them. They found that the wording in the narrowed claims was too vague to clearly identify exactly what Smucker's is trying to patent. Because Smucker's failed to respond to the BPAI's rejections within the two month deadline, the PTO mailed a Notice of Intent to Issue a Reexamination Certificate (NIIRC) in December 2006 cancelling all claims. The reexamination certificate was issued on September 25, 2007.