Company claims owner of MarlboroWeed.com is cybersquatting.
Philip Morris USA Inc., an Altria company that makes Marlboro cigarettes, has filed a cybersquatting complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization. The company is demanding that the owner of MarlboroWeed.com hand over the joint.
MarlboroWeed.com was registered in 2010 and doesn’t appear to have ever been used. The domain name resolves to a “coming soon” page.
This isn’t the first time Altria has gone after people who registered domain names using its brand names and marijuana terms. In 2010 it won a similar case for the domain names AltriaCannabis.com and AltriaMarijuana.com. It now owns the domain names but hasn’t done anything with them.
So, is this a case of simple brand protection or a desire to eventually use the domain names? Maybe it’s both.
Steve says
Maybe owner plans to grow weed in the town of Marlboro NJ? That would be an Interestig defense!
Lance Williams says
I used the defense for Marlboro NJ and lost. So we did not do a start up there.
Philip Morris won that case against Lance Williams 2 years ago! I’ll stay in California! NJ doesn’t get the first 215 defense weed grower in Marin setting up shop in NJ.
forevervinyl says
Brand protection of course. Slam dunk.
Eric Lyon says
There’s an interesting FakeNews report I just read about a lot of the Marlboro marijuana claims out there: http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/marlboro.asp – I don’t doubt that it’s going to happen eventually. The question is, when!
168 says
To add to Steve comment there’s also a Marlboro County SC and Marlboro Ohio+Massachusetts+Maryland City
There is a sport center, music school and truck hauling with Marlboro in other registered TM’s. Since there isn’t any activity Where’s the bad faith on this one? Confusingly similar product ? 🙂
Altria, no brainer . Marlboro maybe not.
Andrew Allemann says
And in legal marijuana news…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/02/23/cannabis-industry-roiled-white-house-comments-enforcement/98323774/