In a precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) affirmed an examining attorney’s refusal to register two “Bakked” trademarks by deeming the goods to be illegal drug paraphernalia under the Controlled Substances Act (the “CSA”) and deciding the two exemptions of the CSA did not apply.
The Bakked trademark applications
National Concessions Group (“NCG”), a Colorado-based subsidiary of Canadian company SLANG Worldwide, filed two trademark applications to protect its brand name “Bakked” in connection with a product identified as “an essential oil dispenser, sold empty, for domestic use.” The examining attorney took the position that the product constituted illegal drug paraphernalia because it was primarily used for “dabbing” cannabis-based oils, and it denied the applications. Appeals ensued, and the refusals remained in effect until it escalated to the TTAB. Unfortunately for NCG, the TTAB agreed.
The TTAB decision
First, the decision (which is marked “This Opinion is a Precedent of the TTAB”) analyzes whether the product should be considered drug paraphernalia under the CSA:
“equipment or products primarily intended or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana into the human body (e.g., water pipes, roach clips and bongs) constitute unlawful drug paraphernalia under Section 863(d)
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