After plans for holding the 50th-anniversary Woodstock music festival in upstate New York evaporated last week, the brand may continue to go up in smoke.
A judge ruled on Monday that Woodstock Ventures, the company that owns the rights to the Woodstock music festival, has the right to license the name to sell recreational marijuana products. In the trademark lawsuit, a smaller entity called Woodstock Roots claimed Woodstock Ventures was infringing on its own name, but U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe rejected that argument.
At the crux of the argument was that Woodstock Roots sells “smoker’s articles” and paraphernalia as opposed to the actual Woodstock-branded recreational marijuana that Woodstock Ventures intends to sell.
Gardephe concluded the nature of what both businesses sell is different and therefore the name is not an infringement to either side.
In other Woodstock news, the festival will now be held in Maryland with the name Woodstock 50: Washington. Slated to take place August 16 through August 18 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, the revamped festival will reportedly be free of charge.
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