Mars Wrigley wins lawsuit against cannabis companies selling Skittles brand

Mars Canada Inc., global confectionery giant, and Mars Wrigley, which oversees confectionaries such as M&M’S®, SNICKERS®, ORBIT®, EXTRA® and Skittles®, recently settled a lawsuit over the use of the Skittles logo on illegal cannabis products. On August 12, federal judge Patrick Gleeson ruled that three online cannabis retailers “deliver and destroy all infringing product and packaging” and also pay various amounts for infringing on Mars’ trademark.

“I also find that advertising and soliciting for sale a potentially dangerous product using appropriated brands that are obviously and obviously attractive to children constitutes a clear departure from usual standards of decent behavior that deserves to be denounced and deterred.” , Gleeson wrote in the application .

“I have placed significant emphasis on the issue of harm, not only to the plaintiff, but also to members of the public who might inadvertently consume the defendant’s infringing product because they believe it to be a genuine SKITTLES product. The fact that SKITTLES is a confectionery product that is appealing to children reinforces the need to denounce the defendants’ conduct,” Gleeson continued.

Mars initially filed the lawsuit in May 2021, alleging that the illegal retailers infringed on Mars’ registered trademarks. “Mars Wrigley strongly condemns the use of popular candy brands in the marketing and sale of THC products, which is grossly misleading and irresponsible,” the company said in a press release. “Use of Mars Wrigley’s trademarks in this manner is unauthorized, inappropriate and must be stopped, particularly to protect children from accidental ingestion of these illegal THC products.”

The company specifically mentioned products called “Medicated Skittles,” “Starburst Gummies,” and “Life Savers Medicated Gummies” that were illegally sold on e-commerce sites in Canada and the United States, as per a complaint filed in Riverside, California at the time states , these products “pose a major hazard to the public as anyone, children and adults alike, could easily confuse the cannabis-infused products with Wrigley’s famous and popular candies and accidentally ingest them.”

According to the National Post, Mars hired private investigators to purchase duplicate products that infringed on the company’s trademarks.

In August 2017, the Ohio-based glue company that makes Gorilla Glue sued GG Strains in court for using “Gorilla Glue” in numerous strain names. An agreement was reached in October stating that Gorilla Glue #1, #4, and #5 would no longer be used and would be replaced with GG1, GG4, GG5, etc. instead. The grower’s website domain would also be transferred, among other things, to be owned by the Gorilla Glue company by January 2020.

Though it was a major setback, GG Strains and Gorilla Glue co-founder Ross Johnson was confident it could bounce back. “We will survive; we will overcome it,” Johnson said. “Is that a setback? In any case, it’s a setback. But now it’s all behind us and we can move forward.” Sadly, Johnson passed away in 2019, followed by his co-founder Don Peabody (aka Joesy Whales) in 2020, according to the Cannabis Business Times.

Similar legal action has also been taken in relation to other well-known trademarks. In February 2018, the company prosecuted cannabis companies for infringing on Hershey’s Chocolate trademarked products. In February 2019, a group of delivery companies called United Pot Smokers, UPS420 and THCPlant were taken to court by UPS (United Parcel Service) for using misleading brand identifications. Later in July 2019, candy maker Sour Patch Kids targeted an illegal cannabis edible product called “Stoney Patch” for trademark infringement.