(This story has been updated to reflect that Edible Arrangements announced its intention to drop its lawsuit against Green Thumb Industries.)
An Atlanta-based franchisor of stores selling gift bouquets made from fruit announced its intent to drop its federal trademark infringement lawsuit against marijuana multistate Green Thumb Industries.
According to Law360 and Canna Law Blog, Edible Arrangements filed a motion two weeks ago to voluntarily dismiss the case against the Chicago-headquartered MSO’s Incredibles brand without prejudice because of the “fast-shifting economic and legal landscape of cannabis.”
Without prejudice means the issue could be pursued again in the future.
Edible Arrangements argued in its October 2020 claim that Green Thumb’s Incredibles brand of marijuana edibles infringed upon the company’s registered trademarks, which include “Edible” and “Incredible Edible.”
At the time, Edible Arrangements was planning to launch federally legal hemp-derived edibles products under the Incredibles name.
Green Thumb’s products, however, create a legal ambiguity because they aren’t federally legal, according to an excerpt of the motion shared by Canna Law Blog.
According to the excerpt, “the pattern that is emerging is that, while makers of cannabis products that are federally-legal do have protectible trademark rights, the question of whether makers of products that, though similar in other respects, involve federally-illegal cannabis are infringing on those protectible marks is less clear cut.”
