Boise Cascade Company on Wednesday sued New England Treatment Access in U.S. District Court in Boston, alleging that NETA is infringing on the lumber company’s trademark by using a similar logo.
Attorneys for Boise Cascade say Franklin-based NETA, which sells medical and recreational marijuana at stores in Northampton and Brookline, markets its products under a “confusingly similar tree-in-a-circle logo,” often presented in a “nearly identical” green color to the one Boise Cascade has used for decades.
NETA’s use of the logo “is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, and/or to deceive customers and potential customers” into seeing some affiliation between NETA and Boise Cascade, the lawsuit writes.
Boise Cascade — which did $5 billion worth of business last year selling wood products, lumber and office supplies — notes in its lawsuit that it is a government contractor that “provides a drug-free (including cannabis-free) workplace and requires all its employees to submit to random drug testing.” Based in Idaho, the company has a distribution center in Westfield and an administrative office in Billerica.
For over 55 years, Boise Cascade has used its trademarked logo featuring a circle around a tree with six branches, presented in either black or green. The logo appears on its products, trucks and marketing materials.