The French Laundry issues cease-and-desist letter to California cannabis company

The founders of Maven Genetics, a California cannabis company, have changed the name of their most celebrated strain after Michelin-starred restaurant The French Laundry caught wind that its trademarked name was being used.

The cannabis company published a news release earlier this month saying that its popular strain would withdraw the name "French Laundry" after it received a cease-and-desist letter from Thomas Keller's famous Napa Valley restaurant, as first reported by Forbes.

"Maven has received a cease and desist letter from the renowned Napa restaurant French Laundry, citing trademark infringement issues," read the news release that was shared with SFGATE. "Our strain's name, meant as a playful tribute to its parent genetics, was never intended to infringe on any trademark. However, to avoid potential legal entanglements, we have made the difficult decision to retire the French Laundry name from our product lineup."

Miguel De Vivo, brand director at Maven, told SFGATE that the company received the cease-and-desist letter in mid-October. Since then, he said, all French Laundry references have been removed; Maven renamed the strain "FKAFL," which is an acronym for "formerly known as French Laundry."

While the outcome wasn't ideal, De Vivo said Maven "never intended to infringe upon the restaurant's trademark directly" and that the company preferred not to get entangled in a legal battle over the name.

"For us, the essence of the product remains unchanged and continues to be the focus of our attention," De Vito said. "The name change is merely a minor setback, and we believe the strain will maintain its recognition and admiration within the cannabis community." He added, "Interestingly, the fact that such a renowned entity acknowledged and responded to the attention our strain was receiving further validates the impact of our work as a company."

Maven received several accolades in 2023 for the strain, which included recognition from the 2023 California Zalympix awards in the "unique" strain category, as well as recognition at the Emerald Cup.

The French Laundry restaurant is among California's few fine dining restaurants with three Michelin stars. The renowned restaurant trademarked the "French Laundry" name back in 1998. SFGATE reached out to the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group for comment but did not hear back by publication.