Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), a professional sports network based out of Toronto, Canada, has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Leafs By Snoop, a cannabis company that offers a selection of marijuana products hand-picked by the internationally acclaimed rapper/ganjapreneur Snoop Dogg.
MLSE, the parent company for the Toronto Maple Leafs professional hockey team, filed its opposition suit on June 8 and requested time to explain why the Leafs By Snoop logo infringes on the network’s own design.
The logos, pictured above, bear similar design choices but sport obvious differences in color and font selections.
According to Christopher Sprigman, an intellectual properties professor at the New York University School of Law, “The Maple Leafs might say that their brand has been tarnished by confusion over Snoop’s new logo.”
“That’s quaint but a tough argument,” Sprigman told the Turner Sports Network. “I don’t see a lot of overlap between Colorado pot smokers and Maple Leafs fans.”
Neither MLSE spokesman Dave Haggith or Snoop’s attorney Lawrence Apolzon chose to provide statements for TSN’s report.
Snoop Dogg is one among many American celebrities to get involved in the newly-legalized industry. Leafs By Snoop launched last November, and the company currently offers a wide variety of cannabis flowers, edibles and concentrates in dozens of dispensaries throughout Colorado.
Other celebrities, including Willie Nelson and Whoopie Goldberg, have also created personal marijuana brands.