The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce has sued the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce for alleged copyright infringement, claiming the pot-business promoter copied its logo.
The Denver chamber is concerned that people might think the Cannabis chamber is linked in some way with their organization, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver.
Or in essence, the Denver chamber — proud of playing a pivotal role in bringing the railroad to Denver in the late 1890s and Denver International Airport to the area in 1995 — doesn’t wish to be confused with a group promoting marijuana commerce.
The lawsuit filed by attorney Kris J. Kostolansky seeks compensatory and punitive damages and asks the court to permanently enjoin Colorado Cannabis, 1640 Logan St., from using its “infringing logo.”
“Despite receiving notice of the Denver Metro Chamber’s objections, the Colorado Cannabis Chamber has refused and continues to refuse to make any changes to the infringing logo,” the lawsuit says.
Officials from Colorado Cannabis could not be reached immediately for comment.
According to the lawsuit, the Cannabis Chamber, created in July of 2014, uses a logo that mimics elements of the Denver metro chamber’s mark including a “gold half sun rising on the left border at about a 45-degree angle.”
Other infringing similarities include green “swooshed” lines underneath the image, with its name positioned to the right of the image with words stacked vertically in all capital letters.
Like the Denver metro symbol, the Cannabis logo includes the words “of commerce” at the bottom in smaller-sized font, the lawsuit says.
“The Denver Metro Chamber has been damaged and will continue to suffer irreparable harm unless the use of the infringing logo by the Colorado Cannabis Chamber is enjoined,” the lawsuit says.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
