• by Steve Ellwanger , April 6, 2023

Ferrara Candy has prevailed in a trademark lawsuit against a company selling THC-infused edibles labeled with the Ferrara brands Nerds, Runts and Trolli.

Ferrara sued HC LLC last May in federal court in Colorado, alleging that the company illegally copied the products’ logos and names while using “identical or nearly identical” packaging. 

In siding with Ferrara last month, a judge said the company had achieved “enormous commercial success” and enjoys goodwill among buyers.

He ordered HC LLC to destroy the existing products in question and stop making and advertising them going forward.

In addition to the copyright infringement claim, Ferrara had contended that if the Nerds, Runts and Trolli candies got into the hands of children, there could be a public-health issue because of their high concentration of THC.

HC LLC could not be reached for comment.

In similar litigation last year, Ferrara sued Florida-based Akimov LLC, which does business as Top Five Wholesale, for allegedly selling edibles called Nerd Ropes containing Delta-8 THC on its website, as previously reported.

At the time, attorney Fred Rocafort of the Harris Bricken law firm noted that consumers could be misled into buying products that were not the same quality as Ferrara’s.

“That is without even taking into account the risks posed by the alleged presence of cannabis in Akimov’s products,” Rocafort said in a blog post.

“For Ferrara, its reputation could suffer in case of any problems with Akimov’s products, as the problems could be associated with Ferrara’s trademarks, even if they were not in fact produced by Ferrara.”

According to Ferrara, Florida Southern District Court issued a permanent injunction and judgement in favor of the company last October.