HEXOCBD has agreed to back away from using references that imitated the major cannabis company
Back in 2018, with the legalization of cannabis in Canada, the HEXO cannabis company began producing and marketing various packaged goods that have actually won prizes for the quality of the product and the presentation in packaging. It seems that a company based in California, Assi Project Management, for some reason, decided to market their version of CBD as HEXOCBD to sell their products in the US. Obviously, this created a problem for the folks in Canada who were already using that name for their brand. HEXO sued, and the two have now been able to settle their differences without having to go through a drawn-out legal fight.
HEXO sued Assi in the US District Court of the Southern District of California for “unfair competition and trademark infringement.” The unauthorized sale of HEXOCBD products by the Assi Company was causing confusion with consumers who were concerned about the quality of the product.
HEXO had been around in the US and Canada long enough by the time the case came to court so that “the potential for reputational issues and it is ultimately a fair competition issue” argued Roch Vaillancourt, the General Counsel for HEXO. This issue is especially germane to the case since the two companies are in the same business and appealing to the same markets. HEXO already had an established market offering products in both the medical marijuana field and for adult-use consumption, which is also known as recreational use.
Now HEXO has announced that a deal has been struck, with the aid of the courts, with the Assi Company, which is now “permanently enjoined from using the HEXO name in any manner.” Assi will have to destroy any material that references the HEXOCBD brand and delete any references to HEXO on social media and websites. It has also been forced to withdraw its trademark petitions to register the HEXOCBD name, and all domain names it previously owned that were tied to HEXO are being transferred to the original owner of the name.