JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The legal battle between a Jacksonville-based peanut company, Dee’s Nuts, and YouTube superstar Jimmy Donaldson has come to an end — and Dee’s Nuts got what it wanted.
In August, Dee’s Nuts, a company based in Duval County that sells millions of dollars of gourmet flavored peanuts and apparel each year, filed a federal civil lawsuit against Feastables Inc., which is backed by Donaldson, alleging trademark infringement, according to News 6 partner WJXT.
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Donaldson, better known to his millions of followers as “MrBeast,” owns a line of products under Feastables which includes candy bars sold in stores across the country. The candy bars include three flavors, but it was the milk chocolate and peanut butter flavored bar — “DEEZ NUTZ” — that caught the attention of Dee’s Nuts LLC because of its name. So Dee’s Nuts sued.
Last week, a federal judge approved a permanent injunction between Dee’s Nuts and Feastables that said the MrBeast-backed company can no longer use the name “DEEZ NUTZ”, or anything else resembling “Dee’s Nuts,” to sell its candy bars.
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Details of the settlement between the two companies were not made public, other than what was disclosed related to the injunction. Court documents did state that Feastibles has agreed that “DEEZ NUTZ” is “confusingly similar” to the “Dee’s Nuts” trademark. It’s unclear if the settlement included any monetary damages.
The “DEEZ NUTZ” snack bar is still available for purchase on the Feastables website as of Tuesday for the cost of $29.99 for a 10-pack. The webpage includes a photo of a smiling MrBeast holding one of the candy bars.
MrBeast is also currently wrapped up in a pair of lawsuits with an Orlando-based company, Virtual Dining Concepts.
Virtual Dining Concepts is the operator of multiple celebrity-branded ghost kitchens, including MrBeast Burger. The company was co-founded by Robert Earl — the owner of Plant Hollywood, Chicken Guy! and Buca Di Beppo, among other restaurants — and his son, Robbie Earl, who also serves as president of the company, and Trish Giordano, according to the company’s website.
Donaldson initially filed a lawsuit against Virtual Dining Concepts in August, claiming that poor quality food put out under the MrBeast Burger name has damaged his brand.
Virtual Dining Concepts then counter-sued Donaldson. According to the filing, MrBeast breached his agreement with Virtual Dining Concepts when he repeatedly disparaged MrBeast Burger on social media.
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