trademark advertisements food drugs
Can I market a legal food product with the name of an illicit drug or other illegal product?
<p>Say I've reverse-engineered the Coca-Cola formula, or produced something very similar in taste. Since the recipe is not patented, I can sell my product so long as I don't market it as Coke, Coca-Cola, etc. Say this formula is deemed safe and has been approved by the FDA and any other regulatory body. In particular, it does not include cocaine.</p>
<p>Would I be allowed to market this product as &quot;Cocaine cola&quot; or &quot;Cocaine soda?&quot; To sidestep the potential trademark issue, could I name an independently conceived product after a drug? Going a step beyond saying it's &quot;like crack&quot; and instead saying naming a brand of potato chips &quot;edible meth&quot; or similar?</p>
<p>Edit: Specifically would there be a problem when marketing food?</p>

<p><strong>Would I be allowed to market this product as &quot;Cocaine cola&quot; or &quot;Cocaine soda?&quot;</strong></p>
<p><a href="/questions/tagged/england-and-wales" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" rel="tag">england-and-wales</a></p>
<p>Possibly not if you were to try and register the name, as this may well fall foul of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/26/section/3?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s.3(3)(a), Trademarks Act 1994</a> which says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A trade mark shall not be registered if it is—</p>
<ul>
<li>(a) contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality...</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>The government's <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trade-marks-manual/the-examination-guide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Manual of Trade Marks Practice</a>, at section 5.8, explains that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Marks which <strong>may be</strong> ‘contrary to public policy’ are those, for example, that make specific references to illegal drugs such as cocaine... (<em>my emphasis</em>)</p>
</blockquote>
