USPTO refuses Drake’s ‘THC’ warning label TM
Canadian singer Drake has failed in his bid to register Canada’s legal cannabis health warning as a US trademark.
In September, Drake’s company DreamCrew filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register a red, white, and black octagonal design featuring a cannabis leaf and the words, ‘THC’.
Health Canada, the regulatory body which oversees the sale of legal cannabis in the country, requires the logo to be placed on all products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive ingredient found in the cannabis plant.
The USPTO has now refused registration of the mark, citing a previous mark for ‘THC’ owned by Pineapple Express.
According to the USPTO, Drake’s mark was likely to cause confusion in class 25 for clothing, footwear, and headgear with the Pineapple Express mark, first registered in 1996.
In addition to class 25 for items such as boots, Drake had also filed the mark in classes 5, 31, and 34, covering various herb products.
The USPTO refused registration of the ‘THC’ mark in these classes based on a lack of intent to use the mark lawfully in commerce.
While some states have legalised cannabis for medicinal and recreational use, cannabis remains illegal in the US on a federal level.
It had previously been suggested that Drake would struggle to register the mark as the logo was owned by the Canadian government.
In an email sent to MarketWatch after the original application was filed, Health Canada said the symbol was “protected by crown copyright and intended to be used for public health and safety purposes only and not for private commercial means”.
“It can be an infringement of crown copyright to reproduce the symbol for commercial purposes without permission to do so from the copyright owner,” the statement read.
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