On October 5, 2017, Honest Herbal™ — a hemp product manufacturer — announced that it was having to fight a lawsuit by a completely different company, with different products, over use of the word honest. The other corporation — The Honest Company, which produces cleaning and home products — is objecting to the word “honest” as used by Honest Herbal.
This kind of American corporate behavior is a side effect of capitalism, with greed and envy ruling the day. “Mine” says the corporation, right down to use of broadly-used English words they want to keep for themselves, restrict use by others. In their statement, Honest Herbal had this to say regarding their defense:
“[Honest Herbal] is defending its right to describe its products as “Honest.” On September 26, 2017, The Honest Company (THC) filed a trademark lawsuit claiming that Honest Herbal™ could not use the word “Honest” to describe its CBD Hemp products. Honest Herbal™ will defend its right, and the right of others, to fairly describe their products and services as honest.
“Honest Herbal™ is owned and operated by Kristy Redmon, a pharmacist with 24 years of experience. In response to the emerging opioid epidemic in the United States, Kristy crafted a unique line of CBD compounds derived from industrial grade hemp, as governed by the United States Department of Agriculture. Honest Herbal™ does not work with medical or recreational cannabis. Rather, Kristy’s line of CBD products is produced from CBD rich hemp extract in a regulated environment and designed to give physicians and patients an alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals.
“With no overlap in markets or products, THC’s suit was a surprise. The suit was filed in response to news that Honest Herbal™ received two awards from DOPE Magazine for its innovative line of products. While THC has used the word “honest” in branding its unrelated products, thousands of companies in the US use the word “honest” to fairly describe their products and brand. Honest Herbal™ intends to defend its brand, and the company it has built for its customers. Honest Herbal™ also intends to defeat the notion that THC can extract the word “Honest” from the English language for its exclusive use.
“Honest Herbal™ has launched a funding campaign, which can be accessed at www.FundRazr.com/HonestHerbal. All support is appreciated. In the meantime, the complaint appears to have been filed in advance of our first meeting. Honest Herbal™ will respond to the complaint in due course.”
For more information on Honest Herbal, visit their website at www.honestherbal.com.
No timeline is available for resolution of this suit. Note that this type of complaint/lawsuit over word usage comes across as different from corporate protections of registered trademarks, phrasing, or branding. This is a fight over use of a single, available-to-anyone, English word, not a phrase.
Source: Original release by Honest Herbal™; edited for this editorial on The Grey Area News site. The editorial author is approaching this topic from a logic / questioning standpoint, without implying any type of legal knowledge or advice.
