Jimmy Buffett and his “Margaritaville” empire won a ruling Thursday that blocks a Colorado woman from registering “Marijuanaville” as a trademark, a decision that said both terms call to mind “a chemically induced mental paradise.”
Aurora resident Rachel A. Bevis wanted to register Marijuanaville as a trademark for retail stores and clothing, but the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said the name was confusingly similar to the title of Buffett’s famous song, which he has built into a brand of restaurants, apparel and other offerings.
Ruling on an opposition filed in 2014 by Buffett's Margaritaville Enterprises LLC, the board said consumers would likely think stores bearing the pot-themed name were an “extension of [Buffett]’s lifestyle brand.”
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Margaritaville Enterprises LLC is represented by Joel R. Feldman and Jamie N. Shipp of Greenberg Traurig LLP.