Delaware North is asserting that the use of the ‘Boston Garden’ name by the dispensary ‘is likely to deceive and confuse the public’
Ivelise Rivera, founder and majority owner of Boston Garden Dispensary, stands outside her shop in Cambridge.
Ivelise Rivera, founder and majority owner of Boston Garden Dispensary, stands outside her shop in Cambridge.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
A lot has happened in the five years since Ivelise Rivera opened her first Boston Garden cannabis shop in Athol. But there’s one thing that has never happened.
“I don’t know anybody who’s ever come into any of our stores and said, ‘Oh, my God, I thought we were going to the arena,’“ said Rivera, founder and majority owner of The Boston Garden Dispensary, with three locations including Cambridge and Somerville.
Yet that’s not stopping Delaware North, which owns TD Garden, from making a federal case of it. The Buffalo-based entertainment conglomerate filed a lawsuit on Feb. 18 against Boston Garden Dispensary in US District Court in Boston, alleging trademark infringement and demanding that Rivera stop using the Boston Garden name.
Delaware North, which is run by thebillionaire Jacobs family, asserts in a court filing that Rivera’s use of the Boston Garden name has caused “irreparable harm and injury” and “among other things, it is likely to deceive and confuse the public as to the origin and sponsorship of goods and services offered in connection with the BOSTON GARDEN mark.”
Tony Muñoz, a cannabis expert at The Boston Garden Dispensary, hands a purchase to a customer inside the Cambridge store on Feb. 26.
Tony Muñoz, a cannabis expert at The Boston Garden Dispensary, hands a purchase to a customer inside the Cambridge store on Feb. 26.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
All I can say: Who is smoking what here? Does anyone really think a weed shop is being confused with the place where the Celtics and Bruins play?
Yes, Boston Garden is a storied name, synonymous with decades of Celtics and Bruins glory days. But even Delaware North retired the name when it replaced the old Boston Garden with a new 19,600-seat arena in 1995. That’s when the Jacobs family giddily sold off naming rights for a lot of moolah — reportedly north of $6 million a year. During its first decade, the new digs was known as the FleetCenter, then it was rechristened TD Garden in a deal that lasts through 2045.
You may think this is a case of a small-time entrepreneur not knowing what’s she’s doing. If only. Since getting into the cannabis business in 2018 as an economic empowerment applicant, Rivera has built a team of investors, executives, and lawyers, including lead investor, actor Jonathan Tucker, who divides his time between Los Angeles and his hometown of Boston.
To come up with a name for their retail operation, Rivera and Tucker leaned into the cannabis industry’s love of puns and double entendres. Naturally, that’s how they settled on Boston Garden — a nod, yes, to the historic name of the arena, but also to the weed they would sell.
Ivelise Rivera, founder and majority owner of The Boston Garden Dispensary, stood inside her Cambridge cannabis shop.
Ivelise Rivera, founder and majority owner of The Boston Garden Dispensary, stood inside her Cambridge cannabis shop.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
They hired a trademark lawyer and spent more than $10,000 to go through the process of securing the name through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark law allows for different companies to have rights to the same name, so long as they’re in separate industries and there’s no customer confusion.
In 2020, Rivera and Tucker began filing trademark applications and eventually won trademarks for the rights to use “The Boston Garden” name in the categories of smoking accessories, retail related to smoking accessories, and a cannabis website.
As part of that process, the trademark office publishes pending trademarks and gives anyone 30 days to file opposition. Rivera and Tucker didn’t hear from Delaware North then, nor did they hear a peep during the years-long public process to get their cannabis stores open. You would have to be living under a rock to not know The Boston Garden name was being used to sell flower and edibles.
According to the patent and trademark database, Delaware North also holds multiple Boston Garden trademarks including for a facility for sports or entertainment, a retail store selling sports team merchandise, and brochures. Yet the database also indicates that the company has also abandoned or canceled other Boston Garden trademarks too, including one for a shopping mall.
Delaware North retired the "Boston Garden" name when it replaced it with a new 19,600-seat arena in 1995.
Delaware North retired the "Boston Garden" name when it replaced it with a new 19,600-seat arena in 1995.Handout
But something changed 18 months ago, when Delaware North’s lawyers began sending what Rivera and Tucker described as “very strongly-worded letters,” urging them to stop using the Boston Garden name.
They briefly considered rebranding, if Delaware North would help with the costs associated with a name change. But that was a nonstarter based on what was conveyed by the venue’s lawyers.
“They felt offended and insulted that we would actually request anything from them,” recalled Rivera.
So how strong of a case does Delaware North have?
John Strand, a partner at law firm Wolf Greenfield who specializes in trademark and copyright law, said Delaware North’s argument would have been stronger had its lawyers voiced their opposition soon after Boston Garden Dispensary trademarks were filed. Delaware North only registered its objections with the trademark office last September.
“It becomes a much harder case especially if, as the Boston Garden Dispensary says, they haven’t seen or heard of any actual confusion in the five years that it has been out there,” said Strand, who is not involved in the lawsuit.
Branded merchandise and cannabis products are displayed inside Boston Garden Dispensary in Cambridge.
Branded merchandise and cannabis products are displayed inside Boston Garden Dispensary in Cambridge.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
In its court filing, Delaware North also contends that having a cannabis business use the Boston Garden name tarnishes the arena’s brand. Strand thinks that’s a strategy the company will “lean heavily on ... the idea that Boston Garden doesn’t want that name associated with cannabis products.”
A spokesperson for Delaware North declined comment.
Adam Fine, a lawyer for Boston Garden Dispensary, said Rivera and Tucker hold federally registered trademarks serving different customers in unrelated sectors.
“Consumers are not confused and won’t be,” said Fine. “This action is nothing more than a large, out-of-state corporation bullying a small business rooted in the Boston community.”
I ventured to Cambridge to check out the other Boston Garden, which sits along a busy stretch of Monsignor O’Brien Highway — about a mile from TD Garden. Emblazoned on the squat building that used to be a carpet store was “The Boston Garden” but also the word “Dispensary,” making it difficult to mistake it for anything but a place that sells gummies and joints.
Walking through the shop, I didn’t see any attempt to play up sports themes. Rather Boston Garden’s house brands were riffs off of New England seafood: Lobster Pot, Lobster Rolls, and Lil Pinchers.
The sad thing is that the Boston Garden Dispensary may be standing on solid legal ground, but Delaware North and the Jacobs family have the deep pockets to tie this up in years of litigation.
Rivera and Tucker estimate it would cost at least half-million dollars to win their case — money they don’t have. Anyone following the cannabis business knows the industry is struggling mightily these days.
A view of TD Garden in 2015.
A view of TD Garden in 2015.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
Rivera, who is Dominican American, started her own business hoping to build generational wealth for her two daughters. Now she’s worried there won’t be much of a company left after this legal challenge. And Tucker — whose acting credits include TV series “Kingdom” and “City on a Hill” — can’t help but feel the crushing weight of a fight with a well-resourced family that’s used to getting its way.
“I hope they come to their senses so we can all be good friends and partners,” said Tucker.
And maybe that means sharing a name that, at this point, belongs to the whole city.
Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com.