The Daily Record reports
A Maryland cannabis-themed apparel company has stopped selling a parody sticker resembling Old Bay packaging after McCormick & Company sent a cease-and-desist letter telling the company to stop using the image.
Crabcakes & Cannabis previously sold a sticker that says “420 BUD” in lettering, font and coloring resembling Old Bay seasoning’s trade dress. The apparel company received the letter from McCormick in late September demanding the cessation of use of the image.
Jennifer Culpepper, founder of Crabcakes & Cannabis, said that no reasonable consumer would confuse the company’s sticker with a food seasoning product.
“I think people are smart enough to understand parody,” Culpepper said. “I think most people are smart enough to recognize that and that they understand that it is a parody of Old Bay because we are talking about different kinds of herbs.”
Culpepper said her company intended to pay homage to the Old Bay brand, but instead felt bullied as a small business because her company does not have the financial means to fight a legal battle.
Culpepper also noted that parodies are a way for artists to make statements, and said that to not be allowed to use parodies of company’s brands “would really make a blanket censorship of that sort of free speech.”
Counsel for McCormick was not immediately available for comment.
Maryland cannabis-themed company told to stop selling Old Bay-like sticker
