BudTrader.com Receives Trademark in Landmark Case for Cannabis Industry
ENCINITAS, Calif., Nov. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — BudTrader.com, the world’s largest medical marijuana website, announced today that it has received its trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after a year and a half of legal wrangling. The decision to grant BudTrader a trademark is rare for the cannabis industry, and many industry experts feel that it signals a shift in the federal stance on the legal cannabis industry.
The path to trademark registration for BudTrader was fraught with legal difficulty. The brand had to consult several trademark attorneys before finding one who was willing to take their case on. Then, the U.S. Patent Office rejected the brand’s initial application.
“Everyone was telling us it was impossible, but we were ultimately successful. It was hard, and it was expensive, but we got it done. This is good for the entire industry. This decision by the feds to grant BudTrader its trademark sets a precedent and this will hopefully make it easier for others in the cannabis space to do the same in the future,” says BudTrader CEO Brad McLaughlin.
“Last November, we were discussing what we would do if the feds and Jeff Sessions tried to shut us down. Now, one year later, here we are with a federally recognized trademark on our name. I’m proud of our trademark. Someone has to be the first one through the door but hopefully it becomes easier and more acceptable for cannabis business owners to be granted trademarks by the feds. This decision means we have turned a corner as an industry, and now we can only go forward and things can only continue to get better,” says McLaughlin.
In addition to pushing for legal recognition for their brand and the cannabis industry, BudTrader has been instrumental in advocating for safe access to medical marijuana for all patients in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. This comes at an unprecedented time in U.S. history, where marijuana legalization is now supported by the majority of the population for the first time.
BudTrader.com is a Craigslist/Classified Ad-style platform which allows users to post ads for their cannabis businesses, services, real estate offerings, job openings and more. Users can post and respond to ads for free in the 29 states where marijuana is legal, as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Canada. BudTrader has over 1 million patients that use their platform and they are experiencing record-breaking site traffic.
