NBC Boston
Blandine Jean-Paul, vice president of marketing at Ethos Cannabis, worked hard to launch Headliners — the number one pre-roll brand at the dispensary – and now lookalikes are popping up across Massachusetts.
Jean-Paul filed for a state trademark in January, but until it’s approved, she can’t fight copycats. Additionally, the state trademark doesn’t offer protection outside of Massachusetts, so she’s applying in any state she can as the company looks to expand.
“If somebody sees something is working, they just copy it,” Jean-Paul said. “It’s a speed to market game in cannabis. The first person on the shelf wins the copyright game.”
Experts say that because marijuana is still federally illegal, cannabis companies don’t get the same federal trademark protections afforded to every other industry. The contradiction between state and federal regulations not only costs businesses a lot of money, it also risks their reputation and confuses consumers.
“No other business is just treated like there’s no other legitimate business,” said Sean Hope, of Hope Legal Law Offices.
Hope said the Biden Administration has the opportunity to address the situation by changing the classification of marijuana, which is considered a Schedule 1 substance. He added that doing so would not only protect businesses, but also consumers.
“If you create a brand or cannabis product, you can easily be ripped off essentially,” Hope said. “Cannabis is a live plant. And so the way the formulation — how it’s procured, how it’s manufactured — impacts the end product. And if you’re a consumer, and you’re not aware that this is not the product you think you’re getting, then it impacts you.”
Coast Cannabis Co., the state’s first independent product manufacturer, is still incurring legal fees over copycats, despite having the state trademark. Co-founder Angela Brown said the costs ultimately trickle down to the consumer, and she’s worried about losing trust.
“That’s something we’re very scared of in a brand new industry. It takes one bad customer experience to turn them off from your brand for life,” Brown said.
