Cannabis companies producing high-quality cannabis are eager to name their products after popular food products, mainly sweets. Varieties referring with their names to specific products such as Zkittlez or LifeSafer are no longer a novelty, not only that, but in states where cannabis is legal, you can purchase THC-infused candies whose packaging confusingly resembles the original candy. Mars Wrigley, owner of most of the brands whose cannabis counterparts have been created, is not happy about this and has filed lawsuits over the matter. Here are more details.
Mars Wrigley sues hemp companies for copyright infringement
Mars Wrigley, owner of the Skittles, Starburst and Life Savers brands, has filed lawsuits against several legal cannabis players in the US and Canada. The giant wants to block and prevent further sales of cannabis products that it says infringe on their registered trademarks of the iconic treats.
Wrigley named three brands targeted by the lawsuits: "Medicated Skittles," "Starburst Gummies" and "Life Savers Medicated Gummies," listing their actions, which were found to infringe on property rights and the brands' good names. The products listed are not dried cannabis but are candies with cannabis extract, specifically from the cannabis varieties mentioned in the names. And this is where we get to the point.
Manufacturers of high-end cannabis and cannabis seeds, for some time now, have been fond of naming their products after world-famous and well-liked candies or other food products. Perhaps the most famous example is a marijuana strain called "Zkittlez." This is a strain that, with its sweet and fruity aroma, evokes the very candy "Skittles" (the original name begins and ends with the letter "s", while in the case of cannabis it is the letter "z").
So far, the owners of the original brands have not intervened in the matter. What has changed? Well, it's that now it's no longer just dried or seeds that are called names inspired by candy names, hemp companies have gone a step further and created their own equivalents of well-known candies - only that with THC added.
The owners of the aforementioned brands claim that hemp versions of popular sweets can mislead someone, which can result in unknowingly ingesting quite a bit of THC when someone eats a packet of such candy. While in the case of dried or seeds it is known that the name only refers to the original product, in the case of candies with THC the case is somewhat different and an unaware consumer can be misled.
Hemp candy poses a great threat to the public because anyone, children and adults alike, can easily mistake the infringing cannabis products for the famous and beloved Wrigley candy and inadvertently ingest the THC they contain
-written in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Riverside, California.
The lawsuit names, among others, the California owners of websites named 2020ediblez.com, ie420supply.com and oc420collection.com.
Mars Wrigley also sued Terphogz and five other Illinois-based entities that buy, market and sell their products under the Zkittlez brand.
Mars Wrigley strongly condemns the use of popular candy brands in marketing and selling products containing THC, which is grossly deceptive and irresponsible. The use of Mars Wrigley brands in this way is unauthorized, inappropriate and must be stopped, especially to protect children from mistakenly consuming these illegal THC-containing products
- informed the company in a press release.
Wrigley giant Mars has also filed a lawsuit in Canada, where it is seeking $2 million in damages for each counterfeit trademark and wants all profits to date from the sale of the infringing products, as well as the destruction of all existing products that have not yet hit the market.
