Snoop Dogg’s signature catchphrase “Smoke Weed Everyday” cannot be trademarked by the artist because marijuana remains federally illegal and the slogan has become too popular in mainstream culture, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) says.
Dr. ETC Holdco, LLC—an entity affiliated with Snoop that owns his intellectual property portfolio—submitted a trademark application for the phrase in 2024. Then, nearly two years later, it received a denial letter from USPTO on Tuesday.
The federal agency, which falls under the U.S. Department of Commerce, gave two main reasons for the rejection: 1) Goods and services marketed under a trademark must comply with federal law, and “the application includes items or activities that involve a per se violation” of federal law, and 2) the phrase comes from a “song lyric commonly used in association with cannabis use,” making it too popular to exclusively trademark.
“To qualify for a federal registration, the use of a mark in commerce must be lawful under federal law in the sense that the commerce recited in the application complies with applicable federal laws that regulate the identified goods and/or services,” USPTO said. “If the goods or services with which a mark is intended to be used are prohibited by law, the applicant can neither use its mark in lawful commerce nor have the requisite bona fide intent to use the mark in lawful commerce. ”
The letter also explains how certain hemp-related terms and phrases could potentially be eligible for trademark registrations unlike those linked to marijuana because hemp and its derivatives were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill. However, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declined to enact rules allowing for the lawful marketing of cannabinoids like CBD as a food items or dietary supplements, USTPO said it would similar deny trademark applications for those products.
The agency’s denial letter additionally said the registration was refused “because the applied-for mark is a slogan or term that does not function as a trademark or service mark to indicate the source of applicant’s goods and/or services and to identify and distinguish them from others.”
