Cannabis awards organisers locked in TM suit
A Cannabis industry event company has filed a counterclaim suit to invalidate trademarks held by a competitor, who has accused them of unfair competition.
The Las Vegas Cannabis Awards (LVCA) and its manager Sheldon Cooper claimed that rival event The Cannabis Business Awards was guilty of unfair competition and sought to cancel its trademark.
The Cannabis Awards Show and its founder Chloe Villano filed a counterclaim in response on Monday, 12 July, claiming that the LVCA had adopted a name “confusingly similar” to that of the Cannabis Business Awards in order to profit from Villano.
Villano and her events company Villano Enterprises are seeking injunctive relief from the US District Court for the District of Nevada to “prevent further infringement” of their trademarks, as well as damages cut from the LVCA profits.
Villano claims to have hosted “at least sixteen” Cannabis Business Awards events all over the US since 2012, including in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Alleged Infringement
Villano was first introduced to Cooper at the “Budtender” cannabis industry event in Las Vegas in October 2019.
“Cooper recognised Ms Villano’s importance, notoriety and clout within the industry and immediately attempted to ingratiate and associate himself with Villano and the Cannabis Business Awards,” the counterclaim said.
Cooper supposedly admitted that the name of his event was “too similar” to the Cannabis Business Awards to Villano and “agreed to change the name of his event”.
Instead, Villano claims that Cooper “doubled down” on his attempt to associate his event with the Cannabis Awards by “essentially copying” a promotional flyer design for the event “to further muddy the waters”.
The LVCA also adopted a “confusingly similar gold cannabis leaf” logo for its 2020 event, said the complaint.
Villano Enterprises is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against Cooper baring the usage of marks similar to the Cannabis Business Awards or the Las Vegas Cannabis Business awards and asked the court for compensatory and actual damages from LVCA profits.
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