The J. M. Smucker Company is a manufacturer and market leader of fruit spreads, ice cream toppings, health and natural foods beverages, and natural peanut butter in North America.

Headquarters for Smuckers are in Orrville, Ohio.

History

The J.M. Smuckers Company was founded in 1897 by Jerome Monroe Smucker. The company has been family run for four generations.

Products

• Jam, Jelly, & Preserves
  • Fruit Butter
  • Jam
  • Jelly
  • Low Sugar
  • Preserves
  • Simply Fruit
  • Sugar Free
• Peanut Butter
  • Goober PB&J
  • Nat. Peanut Butter
• Sandwiches
  • Grape PB&J
  • Strawberry PB&J
  • Grilled Cheese
• Ice Cream Toppings
  • Magic Shell
  • Microwaveable Ice Cream Topping
  • Specialty Ice Cream Topping
  • Spoonable Ice Cream Topping
  • Sugar Free Ice Cream Topping
  • Sundae Syrups
• Specialty Items
  • Fruit Syrup
  • Plate Scapers Dessert Topping
  • Specialty Items

Controversy

Days before Christmas, on December 21, 1999, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) awarded Menusaver, Inc. a patent for its invention of "sealed crustless sandwich" (No. 6,004,596). Basically, it is the same old peanut butter and jelly sandwich (PB&J) enjoyed by school kids of the United States throughout the 20th century. Menusaver, owned by Smucker, began sending letters to other PB&J manufacturers and urged them to cease patent infringement.

The first claim of Menusaver's patent reads:

1. A sealed crustless sandwich, comprising:

• a first bread layer having a first perimeter surface coplanar to a contact surface;
• at least one filling of an edible food juxtaposed to said contact surface;
• a second bread layer juxtaposed to said at least one filling opposite of said first bread layer, wherein said second bread layer includes a second perimeter surface similar to said first perimeter surface;
• a crimped edge directly between said first perimeter surface and said second perimeter surface for sealing said at least one filling between said first bread layer and said second bread layer;

wherein a crust portion of said first bread layer and said second bread layer has been removed.

In plain English, what this invention described, is nothing but a sealed, crustless sandwich, which has at least one filling -- just a plain jelly sandwich. In the communications between the patent examiner and applicants, the examiner rejected this application as obvious at first, but Menusaver argued that the "crimped edge" makes a difference between this invention and all prior sandwiches. Therefore the patent was awarded. However, many intellectual property experts take it as a joke.

Currently, Smucker's is selling the patented sandwiches under the "Incredible Uncrustables®" trademark. As of September 2004, despite of a lawsuit to challenge the validity of said patent, this patent remains effective.

See also

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (PB&J)

External links

• J.M. Smucker Co. (http://www.smuckers.com/)
• U.S. patent: Sealed crustless sandwich (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,004,596.WKU.&OS=PN/6,004,596&RS=PN/6,004,596)