Marihuana in slang: an interesting trademark rejection

I'm in love with Mary Jane
She's my main thing
She makes me feel alright
She makes my heart sing

American slang for cannabis started to become popular in the 1950s. Mary Jane, phonetically similar to the Mexican term marijuana, became commonly used in US jazz and hippie circles, as illustrated in the Rick James song quoted above. The term has since become established as an informal name for cannabis. 

AK Trade, a Turkish trading company, filed a European trademark application for the figurative trademark ‘Marie Jane’ for tobacco, electronic cigarettes, and related products. The European Trademarks Office (EUIPO) rejected the trademark application because it would promote drug use, in contradiction to public order and morality.

The EUIPO assumed that the target audience would immediately associate the product with marijuana. To substantiate this, EUIPO referred to a definition of Mary Jane in an English dictionary. To demonstrate the use of the term on the European market, EUIPO referenced a news article from the website Malta Today. The article reported that the Maltese police confiscated a cannabis plant belonging to an AD (a green political party in Malta) candidate, following a Facebook post showing him with the plant, accompanied by a caption in which he referred to it as ‘Marie Jane’.

 It is debateable whether this is sufficient proof to assume that ‘Marie Jane’ is well-known slang within Europe. What’s more, is this trademark really in conflict with the morals of today’s society? The recreational use of marijuana has been legalised in Germany and has been tolerated for decades in the Netherlands. Perhaps it’s time to embrace a more modern perspective.

Author: Erwin Haüer

Bio: Erwin is a trademark attorney and, as the managing partner, in charge of IT and Information Management. He works extensively with startups and scale-ups, while his clientele also includes numerous multinational corporations. Erwin possesses a sharp wit and a keen eye for remarkable trademark news and curious brand infringements.