Mars Wrigley Sues Online Shops Over Copycat ‘Medicated Skittles’ & ‘Starbursts’
Image via Shutterstock
Tensions are running sour and, ahem, high as Mars Inc.’s Wrigley wing has sued a handful of online cannabis shops in California for selling mind-altering candy resembling its products.
Bloomberg reports that Mars Wrigley—which owns Skittles, Starburst, and Life Savers—asserted that websites selling packaged “Medicated Skittles,” “Starburst Gummies,” and “Life Savers Medicated Gummies” are infringing on its trademarks and diluting its brand, as well as creating unfair competition by piggybacking on the candy brands’ reputations.
The knockoffs are laced with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
Mars Wrigley said that as the copycat candies “nearly-identically resemble” its own products and packaging, they “pose a great danger to the public as anyone, children and adults alike, could easily mistake the infringing cannabis-infused products for Wrigley’s famous and beloved candies.”
The owners of California-based websites 2020ediblez.com, ie420supply.com, and oc420collection.com were named as some of the defendants in the suit. According to CNBC, one online store, Terphogz, was also identified in the filing for its sale of ‘Zkittlez’.
Besides filing a complaint in federal court in Riverside, California, Mars Wrigley also opened a case in Canada. It is asking for US$2 million in damages “per counterfeit mark for each type of candy sold,” Bloomberg notes, in addition to all profits from sales violating its trademarks.
A quick look at the websites shows that some of them also sell edibles like ‘Stoner Patch Dummies’, ‘Doweedos’, ‘Burnin’ Spicy Medicated Crunchy Corn Puffs’, and ‘Potheads’.
Lifesavers medicated gummies 600mg
— 2020ediblez.com (@2020ediblez) December 25, 2020
Sale price: $19.99https://t.co/ym1aLDHky4https://t.co/Ln1YubFoGi #lifesavers420 #420lifesavers #medicadedlifesavers pic.twitter.com/IJaQdmPJim
[via Bloomberg and CNBC, cover image via Shutterstock]
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