Snoop Dogg has been told he can’t register the phrase ‘Smoke Weed Everyday’ as a US trademark.
Partly because the rapper wants the trademark for his cannabis business and cannabis is still illegal at the federal level in the US. Plus the phrase is “informational” and in common usage, so consumers wouldn’t naturally attach it to a specific product or service.
A letter from the US Trademark Office rejecting Snoop Dogg’s application notes that one of the reasons ‘smoke weed everyday’ is in common usage is because it’s “a song lyric commonly used in association with cannabis use”.
The fact that lyric comes from a Snoop Dogg collaboration with Dr Dre - ‘The Next Episode’ - is seemingly neither here nor there. And nor should it be. After all, Snoop’s cousin Nate Dogg actually delivered that line.
“Terms and phrases that merely convey an informational message are not registrable”, the Trademark Office states sternly in its letter.
And, “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 laws around selling cannabis in the US are confusing, because many states allow it - either generally or specifically for medical use - but at a federal level, selling cannabis remains illegal under the Controlled Substances Act.
And, the Trademark Office’s letter explains, “to qualify for a federal trademark registration, the use of a mark in commerce must be lawful under federal law”.
So, while many lawmakers at a state level in the US have become much more relaxed about ‘smoking weed everyday’ since the release of 'The Next Episode' in 2000 (when, even in his home state of California, Snoop had to pretend his weed smoking was medicinal), it’s what federal lawmakers think that matters when you’re registering a trademark.
None of this stops the rapper from using the ‘Smoke Weed Everyday’ brand for his cannabis ventures, it just means he can’t have exclusive use of that phrase in the cannabis peddling business.
