The buzz is coming to an end pretty soon for marijuana shops selling a Jeremy Lin branded weed called “Linsanity OG”. Lin’s lawyers this week sent out cease and desist letters to any marijuana dispensary that was selling Linsanity branded pot.
“Their enthusiasm for Jeremy Lin got ahead of their understanding of the law,” said Pamela Deese of the Washington, D.C., firm Arent Fox.
Many of the dispensaries selling Linsanity have already complied with the request from Lin’s legal team, with some just changing the name from “Linsanity” to “Insanity”.
In a bit of a surprising twist, it turns out some of the dispensaries had actually applied for a trademark on the name “Linsanity” or “Linsanity OG” as it applies to medical marijuana. Unfortunately the applicants failed to realize you can’t successfully file for a trademark when there is a clear connection to a person’s name. Therefore Jeremy Lin has the rights to his own name, marks, likeness, and voice for trademark purposes.
It should be noted that Jeremy Lin did file for his own trademark on the term “Linsanity” a couple months ago. In that application he listed a variety of merchandise and sports gear, but there was no reference to marijuana as far as we are aware. :)
