A Win For Brand Owners Battling Look-alike Cannabis Products

An encouraging development for rights holders fighting unauthorized use of their brands with cannabis products. In what appears to be one of the first decisions involving cannabis products that "knock off" popular snack food brands, Justice Gleeson in Mars Canada Inc. v. John Doe #1 (King Tuts Cannabis), 2022 FC 1193 (Mars Canada) issued an injunction and ordered damages be paid by defendants who sold THC-infused candies branded SKITTLES and in packaging that copied the trade dress used by Mars Canada for its genuine SKITTLES branded candy. The total damages and costs awarded amounted to CAD$144,600 - CAD$15,000 in nominal damages, CAD$30,000 in punitive damages, and CAD$3,200 in costs, per defendant. In granting the order on a motion for default judgment, the Court found that the defendants' adoption of the SKITTLES mark and look-alike packaging for THC-infused candy was not only likely to cause consumer confusion and depreciate the value of the goodwill attached to