The online food giant, Deliveroo, is taking action against an illegal cannabis seller over ‘obvious mimicking’ of its brand.
The digital takeaway delivery service, Deliveroo, has confirmed that it is taking official action against an illicit cannabis start-up which appears to mimic the company’s branding.
Dispenseroo, which sells high-THC products online, made headlines earlier this year when unauthorised adverts for the brand were spotted on London billboards and across the tube network.
Those behind the campaign told Vice that they had been ‘swamped’ with orders, with them reportedly selling up to £50,000 worth of products, including cannabis flower, edibles and vapes, a week.
Now though, the online food giant has made an official complaint with Dispenseroo’s website registrar and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, saying the brand is infringing on its trademark.
In a statement to Cannabis Health a Deliveroo spokesperson said: “Given the obvious and substantive mimicking of our brand, we have lodged a complaint with Dispenseroo’s website registrar and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.”
This could result in the seller having to hand over the domain name to Deliveroo.
However, speaking to Vice World News under a pseudonym, the founder of Dispenseroo – who describes himself as a ‘weed-smoking Londoner in his 20s with a background in advertising and logistics start-ups’ – appeared to have no intention of doing so.
They told the outlet: “We strongly feel that Deliveroo’s hostile claims to this name, which they derive off the word ‘kangaroo,’ is laughable.
“On a daily basis we receive many messages from customers on how much they depend on us and how much ease we have brought to their life. Even against the legal adversities we already face with the archaic laws around cannabis in the UK, we have all come together around the beauties of bud to fight for a cause we strongly believe in.
“We believe our fight with Deliveroo is just another hurdle we must overcome.”
They also claim to own ‘multiple domain names’ for Dispenseroo across the world.
Cannabis advocates in the UK previously told Cannabis Health that the high-profile campaign demonstrates the ‘huge demand’ for cannabis in the UK and how ‘ineffectual’ and ‘futile’ government attempts at prohibition are.
Peter Reynolds, founder and chair of CLEAR and a member of the UK Cannabis Industry Council (CIC) executive committee, said: “It’s laughable that our government spends £500 million every year on trying to enforce its cannabis ban and yet a website like this can set up and promote itself like this.”
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