Cannacurio: License Insights from the Edible Arrangements Trademark Suit

There has been a lot of coverage about a trademark lawsuit between Edible Arrangements and Green Thumb Industries. In the articles we’ve reviewed, we have seen no mention of the fact that the Edible Arrangements subsidiaries hold at least 16 hemp-related licenses.

Edible Arrangements has a long history of defending their intellectual property. It’s not a surprise that they’d do the same in the cannabis space. As MJBiz pointed out: The fact that GTI’s products are made of marijuana makes no matter, the complaint argues, “because cannabis-related products are within the zone of (Edible Arrangements’) natural expansion, as evidenced by Edible’s expansion in-fact to sell cannabidiol (‘CBD’) products in (Edible Arrangements’) retail locations.” In a press release from November 2019, the company touted their plans to distribute new hemp-based CBD products to the Dallas-Fort Worth market with projections for in-store purchase at 200 more locations nationally by the end of the year.

Cannabiz Media has been keeping track of licenses for over five years and everyone in the industry knows that these are very valuable assets. A lot of effort and energy are spent to keep the licenses and their employees in compliance so that the asset is not impaired, or worse revoked! Intellectual property is obviously a valuable asset for any company – and the cannabis industry has had its share of trouble when they tried to use mainstream brands like Gorilla Glue, Girl Scout Cookies and others to promote a particular strain or product. Here’s our take from two years ago on trademark strategy.

Why Is This Interesting?

We think the license story is helpful for Edible Arrangements. Based on our research the company has 16 licenses. These include 14 retail locations in Florida:

In addition the company, through a subsidiary has both a hemp cultivation and manufacturing license in Connecticut under the Incredible Edibles brand.

Conclusion

It is unclear who will prevail in this lawsuit. The company has invested to build out their brand equity and even has some licenses. Harris Bricken offers a detailed analysis that suggests Edible Arrangements may have a tough time winning this case – and might wind up settling. We will keep an eye out on the licenses and we’ll be sure to follow the case as well.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up-to-date on these and other new licenses through our newsletters, alerts, and reports modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive these weekly reports delivered to your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo for more information on how to access the Cannabiz Media License Database yourself to dive further into this data.

‍Cannacurio is a weekly column from Cannabiz Media featuring insights from the most comprehensive license data platform. Catch up on Cannacurio posts and podcasts for the latest updates and intel.