Snoop Dogg has been refused a federal trademark on “Smoke Weed Everyday” after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the cannabis-loving phrase was too common to function as a brand name.
The iconic rapper wants to secure rights to the name — derived from the outro to the 2001 song “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop – for a chain of marijuana dispensaries. But the agency’s Tuesday ruling says the lyric is so widely used that it won’t work as an exclusive trademark.
“This term or phrase is a song lyric commonly used in association with cannabis use,” the trademark examiner writes. “Because consumers are accustomed to seeing this term or phrase used in ordinary language by many different sources, they would not perceive it as a mark identifying the source of applicant’s goods and/or services but rather as only conveying an informational message.”
The trademark was also rejected for a simpler reason: That cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, and only trademarks for “lawful” goods can be registered under federal law.
“Because applicant’s goods and/or services include items or activities that are a per se violation of federal law, the intended use or use of the applied-for mark in commerce in connection with such goods and/or services cannot be lawful,” the examiner writes.
The ruling doesn’t mean that Snoop can’t use the name for dispensaries, but it would make it harder for him to protect the name if somebody else opened up a similarly-named competing store. He can also appeal the ruling — first to the examiner, then to the PTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and finally to a federal court if need be.
Snoop is already using a different version of the same name in real life. He runs a Los Angeles dispensary named S.W.E.D., the acronymic version of the lyric, as well as Coffeeshop S.W.E.D. in Amsterdam.
When it comes to the S.W.E.D. name, Snoop has had better luck with trademarks. He also applied to register that version, and the application has already been tentatively approved for registration.
A representative for Snoop did not immediately return Billboard‘s request for comment.
