New York cannabis companies piggyback on established players’ names, brands

As the licensed New York cannabis market continues to ramp up, it appears that a few of the entrepreneurs taking part have also been trying to take advantage of the successes earned by brands from other states.

Case in point: One of the conditional adult use retail dispensary permit winners that was just denied for final licensure by the New York Cannabis Control Board listed its business name as Simply Pure LLC. It’s a solid brand name – and one that was made famous by Colorado cannabis queenpin Wanda James, one of the first and most high-profile Black entrepreneurs in the legal marijuana world. However, James , who also happens to be a University of Colorado regent, never gave her permission for anyone in New York to use it.

Reached Tuesday by Green Market Report, James said that was the first she’d heard of the New York company – and that her lawyer would be sending a cease-and-desist letter to the business by the end of the day in case the owners have aspirations beyond the failed attempt at an Empire State cannabis shop.

James noted that she has a federal trademark to protect her Simply Pure brand, and she plans to enforce it.

“As far as cannabis is concerned, we own that name nationwide. And we protect that brand. It’s 15 years old, so you don’t get to use it,” James said, adding that she has no further information about the New York company. “The bigger issue is if they would have been given this license.”

According to the license denial resolution, the New York Simply Pure entity lost its CAURD permit because it “did not satisfy the required elements to met the definition of a justice involved person … convicted of a marihuana-related offense in New York State prior to” March 31, 2021.

James isn’t alone. There’s at least one other similar case of brand name appropriation in New York, this one by Ithaca-based Glass House Farms. That name is eerily similar to Glass House Brands Inc., the publicly traded single-state operator and grower from Southern California.

While the two also are not formally affiliated, the SoCal company hasn’t taken the same protective stance that James has. “I keep trying to get this guy to quit trading off our name,” Glass House Brands President Graham Farrar said in an email to Green Market Report, but thus far the business hasn’t issued any legal demand for the New York counterpart to rebrand.

Wayne Bishop, the founder of New York’s Glass House Farms, said the name overlap is a “total coincidence,” but adds he might change the moniker at some point just to avoid confusing the two brands in the marketplace.

James said that she’d love to expand into New York, but it isn’t really feasible yet, primarily because of the expenses involved. Simply Pure already has a presence in New Jersey, where James partnered with Tahir Johnson to open a shop in Trenton.

“We’d love to be everywhere, but we don’t have $1 million to just let it sit in New York while everybody figures out what they’re going to do,” she said.